


Double or Nothing

by lauraeb5



Category: Danny Phantom, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Discrimination, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Torture, It's not as dark as I'm making it seem I swear, Kidnapping, Team Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-06
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:27:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 37,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23517670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lauraeb5/pseuds/lauraeb5
Summary: When Danny runs into the Team on a mission, they are determined to help this broken young hero. Unfortunately, Danny's former captors aren't the only ones interested in him. Can the team protect their newest member? And can Danny finally move on from the tragedy that haunts his every step?
Comments: 97
Kudos: 704





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo, just transferring stories from fan fiction.net to here cause I finally managed to get an account. This story is complete and I will be updating once a week. Unless I loses my composure and end up just uploading it all at once cause I'm impatient. Still, this story is complete, so no worries friends! I will upload on schedule! A first for me.

Danny looked around uncertainly. He had no idea where he was. As far as he could tell, he was in the middle of nowhere. Which was a bad sign for his chances of survival.

Sudden pain caused him to hunch over. He breathed heavily through his nose, trying to get a grip on the nausea running through him. His hand clutched at his chest, as if it thought it could hold the gaping wound there together. Danny grimaced. Maybe he should have allowed the injury to heal more before running, but he hadn’t exactly been in the best frame of mind during his great escape.

 _Ah well_ , he thought grimly. _At least if I die, it will out in the open._

Before Danny could continue that admittedly dark train of thought, he was distracted by a distant sound. Danny straightened up, his brow furrowing as he stared in the direction of the sound. If he didn’t know better, he would have thought it was an explosion.

Danny hesitated, uncertain if he should investigate or not. His mind was made up for him when a teenage boy suddenly crashed into the ground in front of him.

Danny yelped, backing away from the downed teen. Panic clouded his senses. He was sure that the boy was dead. No normal person could have survived such an impact. His landing had left a freaking crater in the ground!

Danny was shocked when the teen moved, shaking his head as if shake off the effects of the collision. Danny wasn’t sure if he was relieved or more terrified that the boy was alive. He continued backing away, desperately hoping the strange teen wouldn’t notice him.

His hopes were dashed when the teen suddenly tensed, and turned to stare right at him. Blue eyes met blue, and for a second neither of them moved.

The moment was shattered when another, louder, explosion rocked the air. The mysterious teen broke eye contact, looking back the way he had come.

“Get out of here!” he yelled, climbing to his feet. Danny watched as the teen lept into the air, covering far more ground in a single jump than he should have been able to.

Within seconds, Danny was alone again. He fully intended to follow the teen’s advice. He had no interest in getting involved in someone else’s problem and besides. He wasn’t exactly in the best shape to be getting into a fight.

But as Danny turned to go, he paused. Something was telling him to follow the strange boy. There was a strange feeling in his core, one he hadn’t felt in a long time. It seemed to encourage him. He could almost hear a voice whispering.

_Yes. This is what you were meant to do._

Danny groaned, reaching up to tug on his hair. This was so stupid. He should just go. But even as he thought it, he was turning and running in the same direction the teen had gone. Frequent explosions made sure he was on the right track, and before he knew it he had reached the crest of a hill. He looked carefully over the top.

It was absolute chaos. Fire was everywhere, its flickering light adding a hellish aspect to the scene. Multiple figures were engaged in combat. It was difficult to tell who was who, but there seemed to be two opposing groups. In the center of all the madness was a strange a machine. Danny had no clue what it was, but he had spent enough time in the company of mad scientists to recognize a doomsday device when he saw one.

As Danny grew used to the strange lighting, he began to recognize certain figures. There was the strange teen from before, being pummeled by blasts of fire. They seemed to have about as much impact on him as being tossed half a mile had, but they kept him from reaching the person throwing the fire so the two were at a stalemate.

There were other teenagers fighting. Danny suddenly recognized Aqualad, sidekick to Aquaman. The Atlantian was not doing well. The heat from the flames was clearly draining his energy. He was standing above a girl with green skin who was struggling to stay upright. Danny could only assume she was a Martian. He had learned everything he could about the Martians during his astronaut phase (a phase he never truly grew out of), and he remembered that fire was extremely dangerous to the aliens. The pair was in severe danger, only barely managing to keep the flames back.

Two other teens were trying to reach the distressed duo, but they weren’t doing much better. Danny recognized Kid Flash, but not the Green Arrow impersonator. The pair kept being blocked walls of fire that sprang up without warning. Kid Flash could barely keep them both out of the way of the flames while arrow girl fired arrow after arrow at the person presumably controlling the flames. The arrows were all incinerated by blasts of fire before they could reach their target.

Danny chewed his lip, unsure what to do. He could safely assume that the teen heros were the good guys in this situation, but that didn’t mean that he could be of any assistance. Danny’s powers were nowhere near full strength at the moment. Even if they were, he hadn’t fought in… well he wasn’t exactly sure, but he knew it had been a long time.

A yell interrupted Danny’s thoughts. He focused back on the fight and realized he had missed a person. Robin, the Boy Wonder himself, was fighting against a third flame person. The yell had come from him as he stumbled, losing the innate grace his was known for for just a split second. That was enough for his opponent to gain the upper hand, and Danny watched in horror as the man pushed his advantage. Clarity struck Danny as he realised that none of Robin’s teammates would be able to reach him in time. Time seemed to slow down as a deadly blast of flames sped toward the Boy Wonder. Danny was moving before he could even think.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Today, Robin decided, had been a terrible day.

School had been a mess. He hadn’t failed a test or anything like that, it had just been incredibly boring. Usually he learned something interesting in at least one of his classes, but today had been a total bust. Then, when he got home, Alfred had scolded him for leaving footprints on the ceiling in the parlor. Excuse him for trying to stay as in shape as possible. Getting a mission had seemed to be what this day needed to get it back on track, but now they were getting their butts kicked. Over all, a terrible day.

All of this ran through Robin’s head as he fought. He was playing it safe. He couldn’t land any direct hits on his opponent because of how hot the man’s skin was. He was reduced to using projectiles and his acrobatics to stay out of the man’s way while still trying to take him down. Needless to say, it wasn’t going too well.

Unfortunately, he was doing the best when it came to the rest of the team. Kaldur and Megan were out of the fight for all intents and purposes, and the others were pinned down. Robin was on his own.

He breathed deeply, trying to focus. The heat was overwhelming, draining his energy and causing sweat to drip down his face. Sweat ran into his eyes, blurring his vision for a moment before he was able to blink it away. His concentration was broken long enough for his opponent to get in a hit.

Robin yelled as pain flared in his arm. He could tell that it was burned, but he wasn’t sure how badly. The pain distracted him even more, and he was suddenly hard pressed to keep ahead of the attacks thrown his way. Robin twisted out of the way of one fireball only to see another headed right at him. He knew he couldn’t move out of the way quickly enough.

 _This is it_ he thought, a strange calm falling over him. _This is how I die._

Just before the fire hit, Robin was shoved violently backwards. He hit the ground hard, but he was still alive so he wasn’t about to complain. He looked up, ready to thank whatever teammate had saved him, only to freeze.

Standing in front of him was a teenager he had never seen before. One hand was behind him, presumably from when he had shoved Robin out of the way, while the other was splayed out in front him. Robin realised the reason for this when he saw the green shield shimmering around them, protecting them from the flames. The only explanation was that this kid had made it.

A pained grunt drew his attention back to his savior. The teen now had both hands in front of him, focussed on holding back the near continuous assault. His arms were trembling, and Robin was shocked back into action by the realization that the kid wouldn’t be able to hold the shield up for much longer.

Robin scrambled to his feet, thinking frantically. There. That outcropping would provide some cover if they could get to it. All they needed was a distraction and they could get there and regroup.

Robin was about to explain his plan when it was suddenly fast tracked. The teen screamed, falling to his knees as one particularly powerful blast hit the shield. His whole body was shaking now, and Robin knew the shield wouldn’t survive another hit.

He reached into his utility belt, pulling out one of his ice themed weapons. He didn’t have very many, so he had been saving them for emergencies. This seemed like a good time to pull one out.

Robin’s prediction turned out to be correct. The next blast of fire shattered the shield, causing its creator to make a strangled sound and crumple to the ground. Robin didn’t hesitate. As soon as the shield was down, he threw his weapon, grabbing the unresponsive teen with his other hand. He was running before he saw his projectile hit, dragging the other boy with him. He reached the outcropping he had spotted just as a new attack came hurtling his way. He barely managed to get himself and his… passenger to safety before it hit the wall of rock.

Safe for the moment, Robin took the time to check on his teammates.

_“Megan, you still awake?”_

There was a terrifyingly long pause, before her weak voice responded.

_“Robin? Are you ok? Who’s that with you?”_

_“I don’t know,”_ Robin admitted. The kid was recovering, pushing himself off the ground and looking around with wide eyes. _“I’d be dead without him though.”_

 _“Wait, I saw that kid.”_ Superboy’s mental voice was strained, but not overly so. _“When freakshow over here tossed me. I told him to get out of here.”_

 _“Well, I for one am glad he ignored you.”_ Kid Flash said cheerfully. “ _I like my birds rare, not extra crispy.”_

 _“Bigger problems!”_ Artemis yelled as a wall of fire came dangerously close to consuming them.

 _“We need to retreat.”_ Aqualad’s voice cut off any potential argument. _“We will not succeed in these conditions.”_

Robin was about to argue against retreating when he was distracted by a small voice.

“Excuse me? Could you um, tell me what’s going on?” the teen asked quietly. He looked like he was very much in over his head.

Robin glanced around their protection, only to retreat as the barrage increased in intensity.

“Well,” he muttered, trying desperately to think a way out of their situation. “Those three out there seem to think that heat is better than the cold. They have decided that they need to increase the overall temperature of the Earth because of that. To do that, they are trying to overheat that machine out there. Once it gets hot enough, the thing will go critical, causing a massive explosion. Everyone within fifty square miles will basically no longer exist. Thousands more will die in massive heat waves, flooding, storms, you name it. We have to stop them.”

“Oh.” The teen looked over the top of the outcropping, eyeing the machine. “They are trying to heat it up?”

“Yep.” Robin said, not really paying attention to the conversation. The teen nodded a few times, looking lost. He glanced around his surroundings again, before determination spread over his features.

“I can buy you some time, but you had better move fast. I’m not at my best, so I won’t last long.”

Robin looked at the kid for the first time since the conversation had started. Before he could ask for clarification, something amazing happened.

A ring of light lit up at the boy’s waist, before splitting. As it travelled in both directions, the teen changed. His clothes went from an oversized hoodie and jeans to a white shirt and shorts. His hair turned from black to white, and when he opened his eyes, they glowed bright green. Robin would have been awed if it hadn’t been for a few worrisome things. The teens clothes were stained, a combination of some green liquid and what looked disturbingly like blood. His hair was stained with the same combination. If that wasn’t enough, his exposed skin was covered in bruises and cuts. He was thin as a rail, and Robin hadn’t forgotten his collapse mere minutes earlier. Overall, the kid looked like he should be in the hospital, not on the battlefield.

Almost as if the kid could sense Robin’s objections, he winked.

“Don’t worry. I’ve fought with worse.”

And with those parting words, the kid disappeared into thin air.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

_Okay, you can do this. Focus Fenton._

Danny kept up his internal pep talk as he cautiously approached the machine that was the focus of the battle. The heat increased as he got closer, causing the air to waver as heat waves poured off the device. Danny wrinkled his nose distastefully. Ectoplasm and extreme heat did not mix. Already he could feel his form losing coherence.

Danny fought back the flashback that was threatening to overcome him. Thanks to his time in the lab, he knew exactly how hot he could get before he was in danger of melting, and he wasn’t quite there yet. Still, the temperature was steadily climbing, and Danny knew he had to act fast or he would be in real danger.

Hovering over the device, Danny took a deep breath, preparing himself. Then he forced his ghostly core as close to the surface of his skin as he could.

Cold radiated out of him, but it wasn’t enough. He had barely put a dent in the overall temperature, and he was already flagging. Fear pierced him as he realized that his best may not be enough.

_let me_

They weren’t words, not really, more of a feeling. Danny’s breath hitched as the impression washed over him. He laid a shaky hand over the cold spot in his chest, the one that wasn’t his ghost core.

“Are you sure?” he whispered. A feeling of assurance washed over him. Swallowing nervously, Danny nodded.

“Okay.” Carefully, he pulled at the spot, drawing his hand away. Out of his chest came a small white ball that glowed softly. Danny smiled sadly at it.

“Thank you.” he said softly, before throwing the ball up into the air. The ball hovered ten feet above him. It condensed itself into a speck about the size of a penny, before expanding rapidly in an explosion of ice and cold.

This time the cold was impossible to ignore. Every person on the battlefield turned to stare at the ball, which had stabilized around the size of a basketball. It pulsed steadily, sending out waves of cold and snow.

Danny laughed as snow fell on his face. It melted quickly, but that was okay. The water was helping to keep the fires under control, and he was sure that Aqualad would appreciate it. Now that the heat was lessened, Danny suddenly felt invigorated. Filled with new determination, Danny glared at the fires that were perilously close to device.

“Let’s see what we can do about those.” he muttered. Concentrating, he formed a new shield, mixing his ice powers into it to make it radiate cold just like the little ball hovering above him. He held the shield close to his body til he was sure it was strong, then he shoved it outwards until it covered the entire machine.

The force of the shield put out all fires in the immediate area, and helped to cool down the dangerous device. Danny could already tell that this shield was much stronger than the previous one, but he also knew that it was wishful thinking to believe that he could keep it up for long. It would be draining to create this kind of shield on his best day, let alone right now. Already the strain was starting to get to him. He was forced to drop his invisibility to focus on keeping up the shield, making him a target for the enraged fire people.

Danny grit his teeth as fire began to attack his shield.

_You can do it Fenton. Just hold on..._

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Robin was trying to find the mystery meta when a flash of light distracted him. He watched as a small glowing ball began to give of cold and… snow?

Yes, it was indeed snowing. Robin could almost feel his energy trickle back in with each degree the temperature dropped. His optimism increased even more when he saw a familiar shield appear around the machine the team had been desperately trying to reach.

Looking carefully, he could see the teen hovering above the machine, his eyes glowing bright blue. Robin grinned. Now they had a chance to win this thing!

_“What the… What is he doing?”_

Artemis’s voice cut through Robin’s thoughts.

 _"He’s buying us time.”_ Robin said before anyone else could respond. _“Come on, this is our chance!”_

The team attacked as one, taking advantage of their enemies distraction.

Robin joined Superboy, attacking the villian from behind. With the fire meta having to defend from two sides, she was vulnerable to Superboy’s strength. One good hit was all it took to subdue her.

Having Megan back in the fight was an incredible help. She hovered close to white ball, relishing in the cold it provided. From her safe spot, she hurled chunks of rock at the enemy, intercepting fireballs mid air, allowing Kid Flash room to maneuver.

Having free reign to move, KF ran circles around the supervillains. He took the time to starve several of the larger fires of their oxygen, effectively putting them out. Artemis was finally able to hit her target with fewer fire hazards, and managed to tangle one of the enemy up in a metal net. The villain immediately withdrew his flames, not wanting the metal to burn him.

Aqualad engaged the leader of the trio, the one who had nearly killed Robin. Of all the teen heros, he had the hardest time. The snow revived him to a point, but it wasn’t enough to get him up to full strength. Still, the Atlantian was able to keep up with the enraged man, using his water bearers to deflect and block attacks, while occasionally taking the chance to strike back.

The leader finally realized that he was the only one left fighting when the rest of the team surrounded him, aiming their various weapons at him.

The man backed up, eyes darting frantically as he tried to find a way out of his predicament. Aqualad stepped forward.

“Surrender.” he demanded. “You cannot win.”

Seeing no other option, the man held up his hands, putting out the flames that danced along his skin. Aqualad approached cautiously, ready to subdue the man.

Robin turned away from the defeated villains and instead approached the shield. He placed a cautious hand on the glowing sphere, startled by the texture. It was unlike anything he had ever seen.

Peering through the shield, he saw the mystery teen. Even through the blue green barrier, Robin could see the tension on the kid’s face.

“It’s okay,” Robin called. “We won. You can let go.”

The shield stayed up for a few more seconds, before fading away. The teen descended until he was resting on his knees breathing heavily. The white ball also descended, falling until it rested on the boy’s hand.

Robin saw the boy smile, before saying something Robin couldn’t hear. The white ball merged into the boy’s chest, disappearing from sight.

The teen stood up and turned toward Robin, smiling. He opened his mouth to say something, when his expression suddenly twisted, and he hunched in on himself. Robin watched in horror as a green stain began to spread across the front of his shirt. Robin began to run, desperate to help the boy who had saved his life.

The boy staggered a step forward, the white rings reappearing. By the time Robin reached him, the teen looked as he had originally. Robin caught him as he fell, lowering him gently to the ground.

The front of the teen’s shirt was wet, and when Robin looked at his hand, he saw blood.

“Miss Martian! Get the bioship, he’s injured!”

Megan jerked around at Robin’s yell, worry written all over her face as she saw the limp form in his lap. She nodded, calling the bioship with her mind.

Robin’s attention turned back to the kid in his lap as he made choking sounds. Robin watched helplessly as the boy began to cough up blood. The blood stood out a vibrant red against his pale face.

“Shh…” he whispered, clearing the blood off. “Breath slowly. We are going to help you. Just hold on.”

The kid seemed unsure, but he relaxed marginally and the coughing stopped. Soon his eyes slipped shut and he simply passed out.

What seemed an eternity later, the bioship arrived. Aqualad and Kid Flash secured their prisoners for the local police to pick up while Superboy carried the injured teen to the onboard infirmary.

Robin got to work immediately, stripping the teen of his sweatshirt to see the injury that was causing him so much pain. He froze when he actually saw it.

Robin had seen some pretty horrific things in his life. Living in Gotham it was inevitable. But this sight immediately found a place amongst the top five worst things he had ever seen. There was a wide variety of injuries decorating the teen’s torso in various stages of healing, but the most obvious one was also the worst. It was a textbook perfect y-cut, the type used to dissect things.

Superboy clearly recognized it, because his face contorted in sudden anger. He stormed out of the infirmary, and Robin heard the sound of something breaking. Kid Flash raced into the infirmary before Robin could warn him.

“What’s got Supy so upset? You’d think he’d be happier considering…”

KF trailed off as he caught sight of the teen’s torso. All the color drained from his face and he was gone as quickly as he had arrived. A moment later, the sound of retching could be heard.

Aqualad was the next to enter the infirmary, a little more cautiously than KF had.

“Robin?” he enquired cautiously.

Robin had taken the opportunity to catalogue some of the kid’s less obvious injuries. The more he saw, the less he liked it. Burns on the neck from a shock color, bruises on arms from hands that held too tightly, countless pricks from needles, skin samples taken from different areas… They all added up to one picture, and it wasn’t a pretty one.

“Someone experimented one him.” Robin spat, his own anger growing. He looked up from his efforts and looked Aqualad in the eye. “He needs help, more than I can give him.”

Aqualad nodded gravely. “We will take him to the Cave. Do your best for him until we get there.”

Robin acknowledged Aqualad’s words with a jerk of his head and got to work, bandaging what he could. He felt the bioship take off, but he didn’t let it distract him. As he worked, one thought went through his head.

_I will find the people who did this. And they. Will. **Pay.**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's kinda weird for me to put in chapter notes because my original ones just, no longer work. SO now I'm like, should I put in new ones? Is that necessary? I mean, I'm not giving you guys any useful information here, so I probably shouldn't bother. Oh well. Also, should I put in chapter summaries? I am... not good at that. Like at all. Whatever. I just won't do it for now. Maybe I'll add some in later.

Aqualad waited in the hallway. He appeared as collected as always on the outside, but inwardly he was disturbed.

He had not gotten a good view of their mysterious meta, but what he had seen had been enough. The entire team was thrown off balance by the realization of what had happened to the boy. When he left them, Megan and Artemis had been huddled together, looking pale. Wally had grabbed a large plate of nachos, but for the first time since Kadur had met him, he wasn’t eating. Connor had disappeared as soon as the bioship landed, presumably to blow off some steam.

Kaldur sighed. He knew that he should be with the rest of the team, helping them come to terms with what they had found, but instead he was loitering in the hallway outside of the infirmary. To be honest, he wasn’t sure he would be much help in this case. He was barely able to hold himself together without trying to balance the needs of five teenage superheroes. 

Kaldur had heard stories of such things happening before. Relations between Atlantis and the surface world were good now, but they hadn’t always been. When he was a child, stories were whispered late at night, stories of Atlanteans trapped on the surface who were subjected to terrible tortures and experiments. Nothing of the kind had happened in years, but Kaldur would be lying if he didn’t admit that the stories had scared him when he was young.

Only it wasn’t a story now. It had actually happened, to the boy laying behind the doors to the infirmary. Kaldur felt a pang of sorrow go through him. This wasn’t supposed to happen. The world was supposed to be better than this.

A sudden memory of Connor, trapped underground in a stasis tube, assaulted him. Of course the world wasn’t better. He knew that. It was the reason he was hero, so that no one would have to go through what that boy had. 

Kaldur shook off his sadness and replaced it with determination. They may have been too late for the boy in the infirmary, but that wouldn’t stop them. They would find the men who done this, and they would make sure that no one else ever suffered at their hands.

Kaldur was pulled back to the present when the door to the infirmary opened. Robin exited, looking tired. He didn’t seem surprised to see Kaldur standing there. 

“How is he?” Kaldur asked the Boy Wonder.

Robin sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“He’ll be alright, we think. Red Tornado is staying with him, to make sure nothing happens. The main problem is that we aren’t sure what his ‘normal’ is. His heart rate and body temperature are both dangerously low, but he isn’t reacting the way he should to them. We can only hope that his baseline is just different from a normal human’s.” 

Kaldur tilted his head, considering. “So, he isn’t fully human?”

Robin chuckled. 

“Like that was ever in question.” he said with a smirk. Robin began walking back toward the main hanger, and Kaldur fell into step alongside him.

“Yeah, he’s definitely a meta.” Robin continued. “We took a blood sample and he’s got something in it that we don’t recognize. I ran it through the League database, and got nothing. So whatever he is, it’s nothing we’ve ever seen before.”

Kaldur nodded, frowning. That was worrisome for multiple reasons. First of all, it would be very hard to help the boy without knowing more about him. They may end up doing more harm than good. Then there was also a safety issue. Kaldur didn’t really believe the boy would attack them, but having an unknown person with uncertain abilities hanging around was always dangerous, especially when the person in question was injured. 

“I spoke with Batman.” Kaldur said.

Robin raised an eyebrow.

“Really? What did he say? He probably wasn’t too happy we brought an unknown meta human into the Cave without permission.”

Kaldur hesitated. “I’m… not entirely sure how he felt about the situation. He didn’t seem any…”

Robin snorted. “Grimmer than usual?”

Kaldur grimaced. “I don’t mean to offend, but he is impossible to read.”

Robin laughed outright this time. “Yeah, I guess. Even I have a hard time with him at times. Answer me this: did he commend you on your quick thinking?”

“Yes, actually.” Kaldur said cautiously. “Why?”

Robin merely snickered, increasing his speed. Kaldur stared after him, a little lost.

“Robin? Was that a good thing? Robin!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Robin laughed quietly to himself as he left Kaldur behind. One of his favorite things to do was freak out various heroes by implying he knew something they didn’t, especially when it came to Batman. It was ridiculously easy to convince them. Sometimes Batman’s reputation as the World’s Greatest Detective came in handy. 

Robin entered his room in the Cave, still chuckling. He had really needed a laugh.

The smile slid off his face as he remembered why. Patching up the kid had been… draining. There had been so many injuries. Robin had to assume that the kid had some kind of advanced healing, or he would be dead. 

Robin shook his. No need to dwell on negatives. The boy was stable now. He would recover. 

Robin stretched, finally taking note of his own body. The fight had been brutal, and he was definitely feeling it. He peeled off his uniform, grimacing at the burn on his right arm. He had forgotten about that. 

Robin jumped into the shower, washing off the sweat and dirt of the fight. Once he was clean, he tended to the burn, putting some ointment on it and wrapping it up. He’d have Alfred take a closer look when he got home, but it was good enough for now. 

He had just finished getting dressed in civies when his phone rang. Robin glanced at the caller ID before answering.

“Sup Bruce?”

The long sigh on the other end of the line was almost worth the trouble he’d get into for breaking protocol. 

“Robin.” Batman said, sounding more exasperated than angry. “We’ve talked about this.”

“I know. Keep talking, we’ll see how it goes. So, what can I do for you?”

Another long sigh was his reward for being difficult. Robin mentally patted himself on the back.

His self congratulation ended abruptly when Batman’s voice came down the line again.

“That bad?” 

Batman’s voice was too soft. Robin grit his teeth, angry at how easily the Bat had read him.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” he spat, filled with sudden rage.

“Robin. I’m not the one you’re mad at.”

Robin took a deep breath. It was true. He was rattled by what he had seen, and his method of dealing with it was to be more annoying than usual. He needed to pull himself together. Acting out wasn’t going to help anything, and it was a little more juvenile than he liked to admit.

“Sorry,” he muttered. “It’s just… this kid saved my life, Bruce. And when I saw him all cut up, I just…”

“I know.”

Silence fell between the two. Robin knew Batman was giving him time to compose himself, and while he appreciated the gesture, he kind of wanted this conversation to be over. 

“Seriously though, what do you need? You wouldn’t have called just to talk about this.”

Batman sighed again, but Robin wasn’t happy about this one. He recognized that sigh.

“No.” he said before Batman could speak.

“Robin, we don’t know anything about him.”

“I know that!” Robin yelled. “I’m not an idiot. But he saved my life! I’m not going to let you come down here and treat him like a common criminal! You’ll freak him out! You freak everyone out! That’s your thing!”

“My ‘thing’” Batman said sardonically, “is justice. And no matter what, we need to know who this boy is and what happened to him.”

Robin growled. “Fine! Then I’ll talk to him. He’s more likely to talk to someone his own age anyway.”

There was a long pause, before Batman finally agreed.

“But be careful.” he added. “He may lash out without thinking. Keep your guard up.”

Robin rolled his eyes. One would think he was a complete novice the way Batman went on.

“Bye, Bruce.” he snarked, before hanging up. 

Robin strode out of his room, heading back to the infirmary. When he entered, Red Tornado was still there, looking over the boy’s chart.

“I’ve got it. You should go check on the rest of the team.” he said brusquely, still annoyed by his conversation with Batman. 

He’d expected Red Tornado to object, or at least ask questions, but the android didn’t. He merely set down the medical chart and left the room. 

Robin collapsed into a chair as soon as Red Tornado was gone. He glanced at the boy’s vitals, but they were the same as they were when he left. Robin sighed, before getting comfortable. He wasn’t moving until the boy woke up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Danny was little, he woke slowly, blinking into awareness calmly and cheerfully. That had ended after the accident. Being attacked at all times of the day tended to create a light sleeper. All it took was a slight sound, soft touch, or of course, his ghostly sense, to send him from complete sleep to full wakefulness in the matter of seconds. Sleep became even more elusive in the lab. It was no longer a time to recharge and gain strength, it was a time of vulnerability. Sleep was no longer Danny’s friend. 

For that reason, when Danny awoke in a place that smelled distinctly of disinfectant, he panicked.

He jerked upright, desperate to get away. He vaguely noticed the strange lack of restraints, but he didn’t dwell on the fact. All he cared about was getting away. 

He leapt off the bed, only to crumple to the ground. He groaned, curling in on himself, agony spiking through him. It was so intense that all other sensation was whited out for a moment. 

“-okay?”

The voice was the first thing to break through the pain. Danny cracked his eyes open to find a teenager crouched in front of him, close enough to help if needed, but far enough away to not appear threatening.

Danny squinted. He could have sworn he had seen the guy before. Wasn’t that…

“Robin?” he croaked. The teen grinned.

“The one and only! How about we get you back on the bed, k? I’d hate for you to tear your stitches after we spent so much time putting them in.”

Danny nodded vaguely, confused. He allowed himself to be pulled up and placed back on the bed. He didn’t know where he was, but that wasn’t anything new. At least no one was hurting him, so he would take it.

He watched warily as Robin settled himself back into his chair. It was surreal to see the Boy Wonder in normal clothes. Danny knew that Robin had a civilian identity, but seeing evidence of it was strange.

“Alright then! Introductions are in order. I’m Robin, as you already know. What can I call you?”

Danny tilted his head, brow furrowing. It wasn’t lost on him that Robin had asked,  _ what can I call you,  _ and not  _ what’s your name. _ He had to admit, it was nice to have a choice. If he lied, he was sure Robin wouldn’t call him on it. And he knew that Robin would know if he lied. He was the sidekick of  _ the  _ Batman. Danny could barely fool his parents. There was no way he was pulling one over on the Boy Wonder. 

“Danny.” he said finally, looking away.

Robin’s grin got even brighter. 

“Excellent! Now I can stop calling you ‘kid’ in my head.”

“Excuse me?” Danny spluttered. “I’m pretty sure I’m older than you.”

“Oh really?” Robin raised an eyebrow. “How old are you then?”

Danny opened his mouth to respond, only to stop abruptly.

“I- I’m not sure. What’s the date?”

Robin’s smile faded. “Second of April.”

Danny let out a shuddery breath. “Sixteen. I’m sixteen.”

_ Eight months.  _ He couldn’t believe it. He hadn’t thought it had been that long.

Robin cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable.

“I really hate to ask, but who did this to you?”

Danny closed his eyes, curling in on himself. He knew this was coming. How could it not? Evidence of his misuse was written all over his body. Of course the heroes would want to bring the monsters who did it to justice. But in the end, there was nothing anyone could do for him.

“It doesn’t matter.” he whispered, hopeless.

Robin scowled. “Yes it does! I know you’re scared, but we need to know. The people who hurt you are dangerous, and they need to be put away.”

Danny smiled bitterly. “I agree that the men responsible deserve to rot in hell, but it still doesn’t matter. Nothing they did to me was illegal.”

Robin sat back, taken aback by Danny’s words. “Is that what they told you? Because they were lying. There are laws protecting metahumans from experimentation.”

Danny leaned back, settling into the bed. 

“I know that, trust me I know. The problem is, I’m not classified as a metahuman.”

Robin frowned, trying to understand what Danny was saying. “You’re not classified as meta? Are you an alien? Cause there are laws protecting them too.”

“No, not alien.” Danny sighed. “No, according to the government, I’m not considered sentient.”

Danny couldn’t hide the bitterness in his voice, the rage at the unfairness of the situation. 

Robin spluttered. “What? How is that possible? Someone would only have to spend like, a minute with you to know that you had feelings.”

“Yeah, well no lawmaker has ever met one of my kind. They just take biased scientists’ word for it.” Danny muttered spitefully.

“You’re kind?”

Danny froze. He hadn’t meant to say that. What would Robin think when he found out what Danny was? People already hated ghosts, without throwing contradictions to the natural order into the mess. An abomination like him would never find acceptance. 

Robin seemed to be able to telling what Danny was thinking, for he leaned forward, an earnest expression on his face. 

“Hey, look at me.” Robin waited until Danny met his gaze. He made sure to maintain eye contact as he spoke.

“I do not care what you are. I am friends with all kinds of people. Aliens, Atlanteans, metahumans, demons, magicians, androids, you name it. It doesn’t matter. You’re a good person Danny. You saved my life, putting your own at risk. That is all I need to know about you.”

Danny swallowed. He desperately wanted to believe it. He wanted somewhere where he could fit in, where a freak like him could belong.

Danny steeled himself before raising a hand. He charged it with energy, causing it to light up green.

Robin watched curiously, not saying anything. Danny clenched his free hand nervously.

“Do you know what this is?” he asked softly, not looking at Robin. Robin shook his head, still silent.

“It’s ectoplasm.” Danny paused, before taking the plunge. “It’s what ghost’s are made of.”

Robin’s eyes shot back to Danny’s. Or at least, he thought they did. It was hard to tell with the sunglasses. Danny cringed, waiting for Robin to yell, to call him crazy, or a liar.

“I didn’t know ghosts were real. Can’t wait to tell Batman. He’ll be so mad that I learned about a new species before he did.”

Danny’s mouth fell open. That was not the reaction he’d been expecting.

“You believe me?” he asked, completely shocked. 

Robin snorted. “You did hear the list of people I just spouted off, right? If all of that exists, why not ghosts?”

“Oh.” Danny said, nonplussed. He wasn’t sure where to go from here. He wasn’t used to people actually believing him when he said things.

Robin came to his rescue. “So tell me more about ghosts.” 

“Well,” Danny started, “There’s a lot I could tell you, but I guess I’ll stick with the basics. Ghosts are from the Ghost Zone, a parallel dimension. Ectoplasm floats free form there, and that is what ghosts are made off. Ghosts are created in a variety of ways, but basically some strong emotion or belief from Earth becomes imprinted on a collection of ectoplasm, and a ghost forms.”

Danny paused, before clarifying. “It’s important to know that these aren’t lost souls or anything like that. They are completely separate from the life force that spawned them. Ghosts are more of a different species than they are a continuation of humans. Honestly, the term ghost is a bit misleading, but we’re kinda stuck with it at this point.”

Robin nodded his understanding, and Danny continued.

“The problem is that since ghosts are born of strong emotion, they tend to… feel… strongly.”

Danny winced at how lame that sounded. Robin smirked, before motioning for Danny to continue.

“Ah, right. Um, so ghosts have strong feelings about things. Which is bad when they feel strongly about, I don’t know, taking over the world or something. Some ghosts are even more obsessive. They have one thing they care about, and they can’t move past it. They often get violent when people get in the way of their obsession.”

Danny huffed, frustration leaking into his tone. “But most ghosts aren’t like that. A lot of ghosts are formed more naturally, or from really positive emotions. They just want to hang out in the Ghost Zone and live their lives. Hardly any of them have obsessions. In fact, I would bet that Batman is more obsessive than most ghosts.”

Robin choked, trying to hold back his laughter. Danny gave him a wry look, making it obvious he hadn’t succeeded.

Once Robin had himself back under control, he frowned. 

“Wait, if most ghosts are peaceful, than why would there be laws classifying them as non- sentient. What you just described sounds pretty dang sentient to me.”

Danny’s face darkened. “Because peaceful ghosts don’t leave the Ghost Zone. Only the most violent, obsessive ones do. And when people only ever see violent ghosts…”

“They assume they’re all violent.” Robin finished, his own face darkening.

Danny nodded tiredly. “As for the non sentient business, that has to do with current scientific consensus. Paranormal scientists believe that ghosts can’t exist without an obsession, which is nonsense. They say that ghosts can’t feel emotion, or pain, and that all they care about is death and destruction. None of which is true. Even the most evil of ghosts can feel pain.” 

Danny’s face tightened. “The day they passed the anti-ecto act was the worst day of my life. Now, anyone can shoot down a ghost and do literally anything they want to them with absolutely no repercussions. Animals have more rights than we do.” 

Robin twitched, looking at Danny strangely. Danny looked back uneasily.

“What?”

“You said we,” Robin said slowly. “So you consider yourself a ghost? But you aren’t one. I mean, you clearly have ectoplasm in your system,” here he gestured at the energy still filling Danny’s hand, “but you aren’t made of it. You have blood and bones, just like a regular human.”

Danny hesitated, unwilling to make the final admission.

“Hey, none of that,” Robin scolded gently. “It doesn’t matter, remember?”

Danny looked into Robin’s steady face, before finally saying the words.

“I’m a hybrid. Half ghost, half human.”

“How?” Robin’s voice was even, no discernible emotion.

Danny looked away. “It was an accident.” he muttered.

Robin didn’t push, choosing to move on instead.

“Well, if you’re half human, than surely we could argue that you fall under the protection of the metahuman act. Especially if you started out human and than became half ghost. I mean, there is precedence.” 

Danny felt a strange warmth, one he hadn’t felt in almost a year. Robin was trying to protect him. It had been a long time since he had anyone looking out for him.

“I appreciate the idea,” he said sincerely, “but it won’t work. The wording of the anti-ecto act is very specific. It says that  _ anything  _ that produces ectoplasm naturally is considered a ghost, and therefore non-sentient. And I well…”

  
  
Danny trailed off, looking at his glowing hand.”

Robin frowned. “I can’t believe that anyone could look at you and think that you couldn’t feel emotions or pain.”

“Oh, they know I can.” Danny said absently.

“What?” Robin was once again thrown off by Danny’s words.

“The men who had me? They knew. They just didn’t care. I’m pretty sure that they pushed for that specific wording in the act so they could take me legally. Makes sense considering I was kidnapped the week after it passed.”

Robin stared at Danny in undisguised horror, but Danny was too caught up in memories to notice.

“They justify it. They say that ghosts are a menace and that they need to be able to act without restraint to curb the threat, but honestly I think they’re just sadists. I mean, you can’t operate on a screaming teenager for months without remorse if you have any kind of conscience.”

Danny finally noticed the look on Robin’s face.

“Don’t look at me like that.” he said defensively. “It’s not my fault people are crazy.”

Robin swallowed, wiping all expression off his face.

“I promise you Danny, we are going to change the law. You will be safe.”

Danny huffed in disbelief. Robin smirked.

“Oh ye of little faith. You are severely underestimating the political power of the Justice League. Not counting certain… avenues of action that Batman can take.”

Danny raised an eyebrow at that, but decided not to ask. He pulled his blanket up more, deciding he was done with the conversation.

“You have fun with that.” he mumbled. “I’m going to take a nap.”

“Probably a god idea.” Robin said cheerfully, standing up to leave. Danny rolled his eyes, snuggling deeper into his blanket. He had forgotten how good a bed felt.

Robin paused at the door to the room. 

“Why did you tell me all this? After what you’ve been through, I would have thought you’d have a harder time trusting.”

Danny was silent for a moment, trying to figure it out himself. Finally he spoke.

“I guess I have to believe that there are still good people in the world. I have to believe that, or what’s the point? And if I can’t trust a literal superhero, who can I trust?”

Robin looked at Danny, a serious look on his face.

“You can trust me Danny. I promise.”

Danny didn’t say anything. He turned away and closed his eyes. He waited until he heard the door to the room open and close.

Only after he was sure he was alone did he speak.

“I know.” 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are gonna do a time jump of about a month here. Why? Cause I want Danny to be healed enough to join the action! Don’t worry, there will be some flashbacks and whatnot to fill in some blanks, but I want to get this thing moving, so here we go!!!

Superboy exited the bioship, feeling pleased with himself. Their mission had gone quite well, no unexpected explosions or insane metahumans. It had actually been a simple recon mission. He was a little disappointed he hadn’t got the chance to punch someone, but overall, the lack of complications was a good thing. 

“Superboy! How did it go? Is everyone okay?”

Superboy smiled. There was Danny, regular as clockwork. The halfa was always there when they returned from a mission, anxiously waiting confirmation that they were all still alive and in good health. It probably didn’t help that the first time Danny met them, they were losing. Badly. They had tried to tell him that their battles didn’t usually go like that, but he didn’t seem convinced. 

“Relax, man. We’re all good.”

Wally was suddenly there, an arm thrown around Danny’s shoulder. Danny yelped, phasing out of the grip instinctively. With his support gone, Wally face planted.

A peal of laughter brought Superboy’s attention back to the bioship, where Robin was descending. 

“Well, we were all good. Pretty sure the Wall-man is no longer feeling the aster.” the Boy Wonder said, still laughing.

Danny blinked, looking at Wally. “Ah! Sorry, I didn’t mean to! Are you okay?”

“S’all good.” Wally mumbled, still face first on the ground. He lifted his head a little, smirking. “My bad anyway.”

Aqualad sighed as he left the ship. Danny looked at him nervously, trying to spot the girls still on the ship.

“They are unharmed Danny.” Aqualad said kindly. “The mission went… unusually well.”

Tension drained out of Danny, and he smiled slightly. 

“Good. That’s… um good. Yes.” Danny fumbled a bit, rubbing the back of his neck as he blushed.

Robin and Wally exchanged amused looks before converging on the embarrassed halfa.

“Come on man.” Robin said cheerfully. “I need to tell you about how my hacking skills were the sole reason this mission went well.”

“Hey!” Wally protested. “Without my speed, you never would have…”

Their voices trailed off as they left the room. Megan came up to him, wrapping her arms around his neck. 

“Look at you.” she teased. “You’re smiling.”

“Am not.” he muttered, but he couldn’t quite wipe the soft smile off his face. Megan merely laughed, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before walking off. 

Superboy sighed. So he had a soft spot for Danny. They all did. There was just something incredibly endearing about the kid. It didn’t help that he was around Danny all the time. Danny lived in the Cave with him and Megan, so it was like a 24 hour assault of cuteness. Not even he could hold out against that. 

Danny living in the cave was both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because he genuinely liked having him around, and a curse because of why he was there. When they had asked about his family, Danny had gone very still, before saying he didn’t have any. They’d never asked again, not wanting to stress their newest member. With no other options, Danny had moved into the Cave.

Connor snorted mentally. ‘Moved in’ implies that he had something to bring over. Danny hadn’t had anything, just the clothes on his back, and a pile emotional problems. 

Though really, there were fewer of those than there should be. Sure, Danny reacted poorly to unexpected touch, he got anxious easily, and Connor knew for a fact that he had nightmares fairly regularly. But besides that, and a few other little oddities, Danny functioned remarkably well. Heck, he had adjusted better than Connor had himself when he had been rescued from Cadmus. 

He’d asked Danny about that once. The halfa was the only other person on the team who really knew what it was like, to be an experiment in a lab. He’d wondered how Danny dealt with it so well.

_ “It’s just pain.” Danny said. “I’m used to that. Sure, it sucked, but it’s over now. No point whining about it.” _

_ “But it’s not just the pain,” Superboy argued. “Doesn’t it bother you, how they treat you like you’re not human, like you’re lower than them?” _

_ Danny looked at him blankly. _

_ “People treated me like that long before I was captured.” _

Connor frowned, remembering that conversation. That had been an uncomfortable look into Danny’s life, and he had immediately changed the subject, unwilling to deal with the complicated emotions it called up. He was slightly ashamed of his reaction, but he got the feeling that Danny didn’t want to talk about it either, so he tried not to let it bother him.

Superboy shook his head, annoyed at his own train of thought, and headed toward the kitchen. Odds were that would be where the rest of the team was. A quick check with his advanced hearing confirmed his suspicion.

Robin and Wally were still arguing when he entered the kitchen. The only difference now was that Artemis had joined in, saying that they were both useless and that she had been the real mvp. Megan fluttered around the arguing teens, trying to keep the peace, while Aqualad just watched with a long suffering expression on his face. Danny stood alone, looking more and more bewildered as the argument continued. 

Suddenly, they all fell quiet and turned, looking at Danny expectantly. 

“Well?” Artemis asked crossly. Danny’s mouth opened and closed a few times. He looked completely lost.

Superboy winced. He knew how Danny was feeling. Danny’s hearing was better than a normal human’s. Not quite at his level, but still advanced enough that multiple people screaming at once would have been extremely confusing, borderline painful, to him. Connor knew from experience how hard it was to filter out the layers of sound that built up in places like the kitchen, where the hum of appliances could be very distracting. It didn’t help that yelling reminded Danny of his time in the lab.

Superboy was about to step in when Danny spotted him. Relief spread across his face.

“Superboy!” he yelled, a strained smile on his face. Connor could hear the plea for help in his voice.

“Superboy? He didn’t even do anything! How could you say that he was the most useful member?” Wally yelled.

Danny flinched at the noise, and Superboy could tell the situation was getting out of hand, fast. 

“Hey Danny, wanna spare? I didn’t get to punch anything on this mission, so I could use a good workout.”

“Yes!” Danny yelped, running up to Superboy’s side. “I would love to spar. Let’s do it right now.”

Danny fled the room, heading to the sparring pad. Connor waited until he was out of ear shot before glaring at his teammates.

“What on earth made you think that yelling was a good idea?” he hissed. “I’ve told you how upsetting that is to people with enhanced hearing. And that’s without the… other thing.”

The three who had been yelling had the good grace to look ashamed. Robin opened his mouth, presumably to apologize, but Connor cut him off.

“I don’t want to hear it. Just… think in the future. Okay?”

With that, he turned on his heel and stalked out of the kitchen. 

Danny was waiting for him in the main training room. Superboy felt some of his anger fade when he saw him. Danny was shifting his weight back and forth, looking all the world like an excited little kid. 

Contrary to what one might think, Danny loved sparing. They had been nervous when Danny had first asked to train with them. 

_ “Are you sure Danny?” Black Canary looked concerned. “You don’t have to do this. We don’t want you to feel pressured into anything you aren’t comfortable with.” _

_ “I’m sure!” Danny insisted. “I want to learn how to defend myself. I need- I need control. I want to help people, and I’ll never be able to if I don’t learn how to use my abilities properly!” _

_ Black Canary looked at him consideringly.  _

_ “Alright.” she finally said. “We’ll start slow, see where you’re at and go from there.” _

_ Danny’s grin was blinding. “Thank you!” _

Danny had improved leaps and bounds since that day. His range when it came to types of powers was impressive, and he was learning to actually use them to their full advantage. When he had started working with Black Canary, it had been obvious that he had quite a bit of fighting experience, but no formal training. Under Canary’s tutelage, he had become a force to be reckoned with.

Personally, Superboy thought Danny was ready to go into the field. Robin had said that Batman was waiting for Danny to be in a ‘better frame of mind.’ Superboy was pretty sure that leaving Danny behind to fret was worse for his frame of mind than putting him in a combat situation would be, but no one asked his opinion. In the meantime, he would just do his best to make sure that Danny was prepared to fight to the best of his abilities when the time came.

“Ready?” Danny asked with a grin.

“Hit me with your best shot.” Connor shot back with his own smirk. And they began.

Danny and Connor spared for almost an hour. Neither of them were really giving it their best; they were just blowing off steam. They finally stopped, exhausted from fighting almost non-stop for so long.

Danny flopped on the ground, breathing heavily. Connor squatted down next to him, amused.

“Tired?” he asked with a smirk. Danny squinted up at him.

“I hate you.” he muttered. Connor laughed, sitting down all the way.

“Chill, I’m tired too. I don’t usually go that long.”

Danny hmm in agreement before lapsing into silence. Connor didn’t mind. Danny didn’t tend to talk much. He could understand that. Connor didn’t like to talk much either.

They lay in companionable silence until it was broken by Kid Flash racing into the room.

“Guys! Guess what!!! The League is coming here! Like, all of them!”

“What? Why are they coming?” Danny jerked up, staring at Wally in alarm.

“To meet you dude!” Robin crowed, entering the room with the rest of the team. “They want to meet our new member.”

Danny did not look happy about that. He hadn’t met very many leaguers. He mostly interacted with Black Canary and Red Tornado. He had met Batman a few times, but that was it. Meeting a large number of new heroes at once must have seemed incredibly intimidating to the shy halfa.

Superboy was also upset, but for different reasons. If the League was coming, that meant that Superman would soon be here. Connor hated being around Superman. The man was just so awkward and uncomfortable around him. It made him feel worthless, like he could never be good enough to bear the Super title. 

“Superboy? You don’t seem very happy. Aren’t you excited to see your dad?”

It took Superboy a moment to register Danny’s voice. When he did, rage fell over him. Without thinking, he screamed at the shocked Danny.

“Shut up! You don’t know what you’re talking about. Superman is not my father!”

He stormed out of the room. He vaguely registered the others explaining things to Danny, but he didn’t listen. He needed to cool off before the League arrived. 

Already he felt bad. Danny’s scared face kept flashing in his mind's eye. He felt sick. How could he do that to Danny? It wasn’t his fault that Superman refused to acknowledge him. And it wasn’t like anyone told him his true connection to Superman.

Superboy huffed. He needed to get over himself. Superman would never welcome him into his life. He needed to accept that and move on.

Connor ended up on a ledge overlooking the ocean. He had found this spot early on in his stay at the Cave, and it had always had a calming effect on him. The best part was that no one else knew where it was, so he could stew undisturbed.

“Connor?”

Superboy nearly groaned at the sound of Danny’s voice, but he stopped himself just in time. He had no clue how how the halfa had found him, but now that he was here, they might as well talk. He gestured at the ground next to him, and Danny sat down gingerly.

There was an awkward silence until Danny broke it.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

Superboy sighed. “It’s alright. I overreacted.”

Danny shifted nervously. “So… you’re Superman’s clone?”

“Got a problem with that?” Connor snarled.

“No!” Danny exclaimed, looking genuinely hurt that his friend would think that. “It doesn’t matter how you were made. You’re still a person.”

Superboy slumped, shame creeping through him. “I’m sorry. It’s just… Superman is a sore subject with me.”

“Why?” Danny asked, confused.

Superboy stared at the ocean, unwilling to speak of such personal matters while looking at Danny. 

“I just wish he would acknowledge me, you know? I mean, I have a pretty good grip on my abilities now, but I could have used his help in the beginning. And he’s the closest thing I do have to a father, so it hurts that he just ignores me.”

Danny stared at Superboy with wide eyes.

“Wait.” he said slowly. “You’re telling me that you are a clone of Superman, and he completely ignores you? Never helps, doesn’t reach out at all?”

“Well, yeah.” Connor said. 

Danny had an interesting look on his face. Superboy wasn’t quite sure what the expression meant. He had never seen Danny look like that. 

Distantly, he heard the zeta tube go off.

“They’re here.” he said with a sigh, bracing himself to face Superman.

“Oh really?”

Superboy startled at Danny’s voice. He had never heard the halfa speak in a voice spitting so much venom. Danny got to his feet and sank through the ground, heading toward the main hanger. Right before he disappeared, Superboy finally recognized the look on Danny’s face.

It was rage.

Worried all of a sudden, Connor ran to the main hangar where all the heroes were congregating. He arrived just in time to see Danny punch Superman in the face.

Superboy watched in awe as the Man of Steel staggered back a step. Danny must be incredibly angry to put that kind of force behind a punch. Superman straightened up, looking at Danny in shock. He began to speak, but Danny interrupted him.

“How dare you!” Every inch of Danny radiated righteous anger. “How dare you neglect your child!”

Superboy’s eyes widened. This was about him?

Superman seemed equally shocked. “I don’t know what you are talking about. I don’t have a child.”

  
  
“Yes you do!” Danny screamed. “He’s standing right there!”

Superboy jumped as everyone in the room turned to stare at him. He felt extremely uncomfortable under the scrutiny.

“Danny, it’s okay.” he placated, desperate for the confrontation to be over. He did not really want this kind of attention. Danny merely turned his glare on Superboy.

“No it isn’t. He has a responsibility toward you, and he should not get away with neglecting it!”

“How is he my responsibility?” Superman argued. “I had no hand in creating him.”

“So?” Danny said bluntly. “Lots of parents have kids unexpectedly. Doesn’t mean they are allowed to completely ignore them.”

Superman shook his head, looking frustrated. “You don’t understand.” he dismissed.

Danny’s face darkened even furthur.

“Oh really? I don’t know what it’s like for someone to use me against my will in an attempt to create a weapon? Hm? Is that what you’re saying?”

Superman looked understandably uncomfortable at that. Everyone in the room was quite aware of Danny’s… unfortunate past.

“It’s not the same.” he said weakly.

“You’re right.” Danny spat. “It’s different because none of my clones survived.”

Dead silence fell in the room. Superboy’s mind went completely blank.  _ His  _ clones?

“They wanted to recreate me.” Danny said bitterly, filling the silence. “They were obsessed with figuring out how it was possible for a creature like me to exist, stuck between the dead and the living. They tried to recreate the accident that made me, but it never worked. All of their test subjects died, because apparently, I’m one in a million!”

Danny’s voice took on a faux cheery tone at the end, sounding a little more hysterical than Superboy was comfortable with.

“They finally gave up on that and moved on to cloning attempts. Unfortunately, I’m extremely difficult to clone because of my shifting DNA.”

Danny took a deep breath, his voice suddenly shaky.

“Do you know what it’s like?” he whispered. “To be tortured as people try to extract your very essence so they can replace you? Only for it fail, repeatedly? To be forced to watch versions of yourself dissolve into nothing? To watch as they are cut apart, and melted down, and destroyed in every way imaginable, just to obtain one data point? To hear their screams and know that you can do  _ nothing _ for them? I had to watch them die, over and over and **over** .”

Superman stared at Danny in undisguised horror. Danny didn’t notice, lost in memories.

“There was one…” he mumbled, placing a hand on his chest. “One that was more stable. I would have done anything for her. But in the end…”

Danny shook his head, scrubbing at tears that were filling his eyes. He glared at Superman, his fury returning.

“You’re lonely right? Only one of your kind? Last Son of Krypton and all that? Well guess what? You're not alone anymore! There is a perfectly good kryptonian right there. He is here, and stable, and alive, and you are throwing him away like he is nothing!”

Superman had nothing to say in response to Danny’s accusations. He looked away, unable to keep the furious boy’s eye. Danny snorted disdainfully.

“You are not the man I hoped you would be.” he said. Without another word, he stormed out of the room. He left silence in his wake.

Superman looked around, but no one was willing to meet his gaze. He met Connor’s gaze, and for a moment the clone thought he might speak to him. Instead, Superman turned around and entered the Zeta tube, leaving the Cave. His authorization code rang loudly in the silent room.

After a long moment, Robin cleared his throat awkwardly, glancing at his guardian. 

“Well, that was… something. What do you think Bats?”

Batman stared at the doorway the halfa had disappeared through, deep in thought. Finally, he turned back to his ward. 

“I think,” Batman said, with an oddly satisfied air to him, “that Danny is finally ready to enter the field.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmm… Theory: The reason Danny and Vlad survived their respective accidents was because they both had prolonged exposure to ectoplasm over time, Vlad through his research, Danny through living in the Fenton household. Also explains why Vlad had a poor reaction at first and Danny didn’t. Danny had more exposure, especially while developing. Thoughts?
> 
> Also, confession time. I’m a little embarrassed, but here we go. I didn’t really think about where this was going to fall timeline wise when I started it. I just used the characters I wanted. Now, when I think about it, it makes most sense for this to be sometime in the gap between seasons 1 and 2 of Young Justice. 
> 
> You may see a problem with that.
> 
> That’s right. No Zatana or Rocket. I just don’t know those characters as well, so I didn’t want to write with them. Soooo…. For the sake of this story, we will say they just… showed up later? That cool? Sorry if you’re a huge Rocket or Zatana fan. Just know, I would not have done them justice. :/
> 
> ANyway…. Bye? (Again, sorry for excluding two killer female heros. I am so ashamed.)
> 
> (PS. I can’t remember if Superboy and Superman reconciled by the end of season one. If they did, ignore it! Imma twist the cannon to make this story they way I want, and no one can stop me! Hahahahahahah!!!!)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We gonna do another time jump here because it would be weird if the very first mission Danny went on JUST HAPPENED to be relevant to the overall plot. That’s something that bothered me about the original show, that almost all of their missions coincidently involved the Light’s plots. So from here on out, you can pretty much assume that they are going on other missions that I don’t talk about because they would be fairly pointless side trips from the main story. Cool? Great! Let’s go.

Robin narrowed his eyes, staring at the building. Security was tight, but not the worst he had ever seen. Definitely not worse than any he had infiltrated before. Unfortunately, it  _ was  _ worse than anything he had tried to infiltrate with the team before. He wasn’t confident in their ability to get in unseen.

_ “What do you think Rob?” _ Kid Flash had run out of patience.  _ “Can we get in?”  _

_ “I can get in. Not so sure about the rest of you.” _

_ “Hey!”  _ Miss Martian protested.  _ “I can engage camouflage. They wouldn’t see me.” _

_ “Maybe not,”  _ Robin acknowledged.  _ “But they have thermal scanners as well. They may not spot you with the naked eye, but your heat signature would give you away.” _

_ “... oh.”  _ Miss Martian’s voice was very small.

_ “What would you suggest Robin?”  _ Aqualad asked. He knew that the Boy Wonder was best equipped for these types of scenarios.

Robin thought carefully, taking another long look at the building. He discarded several plans before finally making a decision.

_ “I could deactivate the security systems, but I need to be in the building to do it.”  _

_ “How are you going to manage that?”  _ Artemis asked, fingering her bow.  _ “You got some super secret Bat trick that lets you become invisible to thermal scanners?” _

_ “Well, yes.”  _ Robin said with a smirk.  _ “But I was thinking it would be easier to just use Danny.” _

_ “Wait, what? Me?”  _ Danny sounded completely shocked that Robin would want  _ his  _ help to sneak into the building.

_ “Well, yeah.”  _ Robin wasn’t sure whether he was amused or frustrated at Danny’s surprise. _ “You can become completely undetectable to all known types of security systems, except ghost ones, and you can even get past those by using your human half. You’re kind of the perfect safe breaker, Danny.” _

_ “Oh. Right. Sorry, it’s just… the idea of using my powers that way… reminds me of someone I knew once.” _

Robin and KF exchanged a glance. They knew there was a lot in Danny’s past that he didn’t like to talk about. It hadn’t been a problem yet, and they hoped that it wasn’t about to.

Aqualad seemed to be having the same idea.  _ “Danny, if you are uncomfortable, you can wait in the bioship.” _

_   
_ _   
_ _ “What? No! I’m fine guys. I am one hundred percent committed to this. It was just a passing thought, not a big deal at all. That man was far from the worst thing to happen to me.”  _

Robin was relieved to hear Danny sounding more like himself. He could get into the building alone, but it would be much easier with Danny’s help.

_ “Well, you ready to go then?”  _ he asked cheerfully.

Danny’s determined voice came through the mind link.  _ “Let’s do this.”  _

Danny floated over to Robin, grabbing hold of him. Both boys vanished from sight instantly. Danny carried Robin over to the building, phasing through the wall. Robin wasn’t sure he would ever get used to the feeling of going intangible. The closest he could get to describing the sensation was a weird tingling, but that didn’t really do the feeling justice.

Once inside, Robin used the mind link to direct Danny to the nearest terminal he could use to access the security system. Danny set Robin down before grabbing hold of the terminal. Once the terminal was also intangible, Robin was able to interact with it. He quickly got to work, creating loops and blind spots in the buildings security system.

Robin had been shocked at first when learning about Danny’s different abilities. Many of them made absolutely no sense, breaking the laws of physics in a way that not even magicians were capable of. When asked how his powers worked, Danny had just shrugged.

“Ghosts are from a different dimension.” he’d explained. “They borrow physics from there. I mostly just don’t question it.”

Any further attempts to figure out Danny’s powers had ended the same way. Danny brushed off the exact explanations on how his powers worked, more focused on learning to control them. Everyone else had given up eventually. Kid Flash had held on the longest, determined to figure out the rationale behind ghost abilities, but without access to more ghosts, or better yet, the Ghost Zone itself, it was hopeless.

Robin had adopted Danny’s mentality on the issue. It worked, knowing exactly how was secondary. That didn’t mean he wasn’t amazed about the fact that he could hack a machine while being completely intangible. He was, but he cared more about doing his job than he did about marveling at this anomaly of science.

_ “Done.”  _ Robin said, pulling away from the terminal.  _ “You guys should be able to get in now, as long as you aren’t spotted by any guards.” _

_ “Good job.”  _ Aqualad turned to the rest of the young heroes. _ “Team, split up and look for signs of drugs. Batman was sure that a big deal was going down tonight. We need to know who is here and what they are selling.” _

_ “I still say this is a waste of our time.”  _ Superboy grumbled.  _ “I mean, a drug deal? Couldn’t the police handle this?” _

_ “Batman heard that there were supposed to be some big players here tonight,”  _ Robin reminded, creeping down the hallway with Danny hovering close behind. _ “But he couldn’t figure out who. Whoever it is, people are too scared to talk. That doesn’t bode well for anyone. That plus the weirdly strong security suggests that this is a big deal. We have to find this mystery seller.” _

Talk left off at that point. The team moved through the building silently, avoiding guards as they went. Patrols became more frequent the closer to the center of the building they got.

_ “We’re close.”  _ Robin said, ducking back around a corner as he spotted a pair of guards heading toward him. Danny grabbed him, turning them invisible as the guards passed by. Once the guards were gone, Robin looked again, spotting a pair of heavily armed doors at the end of the hallway. The guards that had just passed them must have been replaced by the ones currently on guard.  _ “I think we just found the room where it’s going down.” _

_ “Well of course you did.”  _ Kid Flash complained.  _ “You guys had an obvious advantage. ‘Let’s put our two sneakiest members together, they’ll be completely unstoppable.’ Not like some of us could have used Danny’s help more than Mr. I Can Disappear On Command.”  _

_ “What, this too much of a challenge for you, Baywatch? Need the ghost to hold your hand?”  _ Artemis asked sarcastically.

Danny shifted uncomfortably behind Robin.  _ “Um… maybe if I learned to duplicate, I could-” _

_ “No, Danny. Members of this team need to learn to act on their own. And to not sidetrack the mission with pointless complaints.”  _ Aqualad’s voice held a touch of reproach. 

_ “Ugh, fine. I’ll complain when we get back. Happy?”  _ KF snarked.

_ “No one is ever happy to hear you complain.”  _ Artemis said bluntly. 

_ “Enough!”  _ Aqualad yelled.  _ “Danny, Robin, enter the room and report. We will make our way toward you.” _

_ “Roger that, leaderman!”  _ Robin said cheerfully. Danny grabbed his hand and phased them through the wall, bypassing security completely. 

Emerging from the wall, Robin sucked in a quick breath. The room wasn’t very big, but it was packed. Chairs were set up around a makeshift stage. In the center of the stage was a lead case, set on a stool. Two guards were standing over it, clearly protecting it. Robin narrowed his eyes. That was the merchandise, he was sure of it. Most of the chairs in the room were filled, and those that were empty were quickly filling. Robin looked over the attendants. It didn’t look good.

_ “Robin? What do you see?”  _ Aqualad’s voice startled Robin into action.

_ “It’s not good,”  _ he admitted.  _ “We’ve got lots of really bad people here. I see at least three high level mobsters, the leader of Intergang, a couple of metas, and- holy crap, is that Lex Luthor?”  _

It was. Robin and Danny watched in disbelief as Luthor himself entered, accompanied by his bodyguard, Mercy. He appeared to be the last to arrive, as all the ‘guests’ settled down upon his arrival, watching the stage avidly. 

_ “We’re out of time. The buy is going down. You guys need to get in here now!”  _ Robin started toward the stage, dragging Danny behind him.

_ “Um… Robin? What are you doing?”  _ Danny tried to slow down, but Robin was relentless.

_ “We need to get into position.”  _ Robin snapped.  _ “Whatever they are selling, it’s bad enough to get Luthor here. We need to be ready to grab it when the rest of the team gets here.” _

Danny looked uncertain, but he let Robin drag him over to the stage. Robin crouched on the edge of the stage, ready to spring into action. The seller would be emerging soon, and Robin needed to be in a good position to take him out.

_ “Uh, Robin? Can we move? Something about the stage makes me feel… weird.” _

Robin glanced back at Danny. The halfa did look a little strained, but that was to be expected. Holding his invisibility for a long time tended to drain Danny, especially when he was making someone else invisible as well. Based on their practice sessions, Robin knew that Danny could hold on a bit longer before things became serious. Long enough for them to apprehend the seller.

_ “You’ll be fine.”  _ Robin finally decided.  _ “It won’t be much longer now. Get out of the way when the fight starts til you’ve recovered.” _

Danny looked uncertain, but before he could argue, a man stepped out onto the stage.

Robin’s heart dropped. He swore violently, causing a storm of complaints to come over the mind link.

_ “What was that for?”  _ KF whined.

_ “Scarecrow. He’s the seller.” _ Robin spat. Before he could continue, Scarecrow spoke.

“Welcome everyone! I am so glad that you could join me this evening. I promise you, the product I am about to show you will be worth every penny you pay for it.”

Scarecrow walked over to the case, rubbing a hand along it lovingly. “I know that you are all aware of my work. You wouldn’t be here otherwise. But I assure you, this is unlike anything I have done before.”

_ “We’re in position.”  _ Aqualad’s voice cut across Scarecrow’s.  _ “Should we engage?” _

_ “Not yet.”  _ Robin said quickly.  _ “We need to know what’s so special about what Scarecrow is selling.” _

Scarecrow walked to the front of the sage, looking directly at his audience.

“Let’s be honest. No one here is really worried about ‘people’ anymore. All the great heroes are ‘superhuman.’ That means that many the things that would completely incapacitate a normal person will have little to no effect on the people we want to hurt most. The oh so holy heroes.”

Scarecrow spat on the ground before continuing. 

“Even I have face this problem. My lovely fear gas, which I have put so much effort into, won’t even effect half of the Justice League.” Scarecrow paused, before continuing with a truly horrific grin. “At least, until now.”

_ “Robin!” _

Danny’s voice was desperate, but Robin ignored him, too caught up in what Scarecrow was saying. If what he was implying was true…

“That’s correct! I have created a new version of my fear gas, one can affect any living creature in the universe, at least, that we are aware of. It will even influence androids, which I am particularly proud about.”

_ “That doesn’t sound good.”  _ Superboy muttered.

_ “What? What doesn’t sound good?”  _ Artemis asked, frustrated.  _ “Not all of us have super hearing!” _

_ “Scarecrow’s created a universal fear gas.” _ Robin said grimly.  _ “You could take the whole league down with something like that.”  _

_ “ROBIN!” _

Robin finally looked at Danny. He was shocked to see how terrible he looked. As if he was on the edge of panic. 

_ “Danny?”  _ Robin asked, but before the halfa could respond, Robin attention was directed toward Scarecrow once more.

“Behold! The Ultimate Fear!” With a flourish, Scarecrow opened the case, pulling out a capsule of gas.

Time seemed to freeze for a moment. Robin stared at the capsule, mesmerized by it. Even when it was contained, the gas gave off waves of fear. The light glinted off the surface, distorting the image. Robin had been on the receiving end of fear gas often enough to know what the hallucinations it caused looked like, and the capsule itself gave off the same vibes that the hallucinations did. He could scarcely imagine what it would be like to be caught full force by the effects of the gas. 

Behind him, he heard Danny moan, and then suddenly, the invisibility dropped, leaving Danny and Robin in full view of the assembly. 

Multiple people in the audience shouted in alarm, but Scarecrow merely grinned.

“Ah! The little birdy has joined us! Where is the Bat? I would love to test my new formula on him.”

Robin didn’t say anything, glancing at Danny. The halfa was curled up on the ground, breath coming quickly. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and Robin could see the tremors in his hands. Robin cursed under his breath. Of course! Ghosts were made of emotions. Danny himself had told Robin that ghosts felt things more strongly than humans did. If Robin was feeling the effects of the fear gas, than Danny must be absolutely terrified.

Scarecrow caught sight of Danny and grinned. 

“Who’s your little friend?” he cooed. “He doesn’t look like he feels too good, the poor thing. I would love to see him suffering from the full effects of my fear gas. I’m sure it would be beautiful.”

“Get back!” Robin yelled.  _ “We’ve been made!”  _

_ “Go! Now!” _

At Aqualad’s command, the team sprung into action, smashing into the room. The attendants leapt to their feet, some pulling out weapons, while others simply ran away.

Robin wanted to help his team, but he was unwilling to leave Danny alone when he was so close to the psychotic psychiatrist. Danny was nearly unresponsive at this point, curled up into a tiny ball. Robin wanted to get him off the stage, but he was sure that Scarecrow would react violently to any attempts to move away. His instincts screamed to attack the man, but he was hesitant to do so while he was still holding the container of fear gas. The last thing he wanted was for it to get released. Scarecrow, for his part, seemed completely unconcerned with the superteam that was taking out his potential buyers. He watched them closely, looking extremely happy. 

Soon, only Scarecrow was left standing. The team approached carefully, surrounding the man, but not climbing onto the stage.

  
  
Scarecrow laughed. “I’d applause you all, but I’m afraid that my hands are full.”

The whole team tensed as Scarecrow waved the capsule of fear glass. The man noticed.

“Oh, I’m sorry, does this make you nervous? It really shouldn’t. In fact, it should make you terrified!”

“Give it up, Scarecrow.” Robin said calmly. “You can’t win.”

“On the contrary.” Scarecrow said with a manic gleam in his eye. “I think I’m the only one who will win. You see, the theory behind my fear gas is sound, but I haven’t got to test it as much as I’d like. But then, a bunch of test subjects came to me! I really am the luckiest man in the world!”

Robin registered the threat a split second too late. He lunged forward, but he was too far away. With one smooth motion, Scarecrow pulled on his mask, before smashing the capsule on the ground. He ran away, laughing hysterically as all the teens flinched away from the gas that was filling the room. 

Suddenly, Danny moved. Robin tried to grab the halfa, but he was too fast. Before Robin could blink, Danny was standing over the shattered remains of the capsule that had held the fear gas. A split second later, a shield sprang into existence, trapping the fear gas… and Danny.

There was dead silence for a moment, before the team erupted into chaos.

“What do we do we, what do we do?” Artemis yelled, yanking at her hair. 

  
  
“Danny!” Miss Martian screamed, flying up to the shield and pounding on it. Superboy ran up to her, dragging her away from it as she kicked and screamed, even though he looked shattered as well.

“Oh no. Oh no oh no ohnoohno this is bad, badbadbad.” Kid Flash started muttering, going faster and faster until his words were complete gibberish. Aqualad simply stared in disbelief at the shield that contained their newest member.

“Get a hold of yourselves!” Robin yelled. He could feel his own heart pounding unnaturally fast, and he knew exactly what had happened. “Some of the fear gas got into your systems! It’s affecting how you react. You need to stay calm, or it will only get worse!”

Aqualad nodded, correcting his posture so he stood tall and proud once more. “Of course. You’re right. Artemis, Kid Flash, go after Scarecrow, we can’t let him get away.”

Both teens nodded, still looking a little panicked, but feeling better once they had a purpose. Kid Flash picked Artemis up, and they raced out of the room, following Scarecrows trail.

“Superboy, Miss Martian, you’re with me. We need to get all these people out of here.”

Miss Martian took a deep breath and held out a hand, levitating several unconscious villains. Superboy began to pick up a few more, pilling them over his shoulder. Aqualad turned to Robin. 

“Danny…” he said helplessly. 

“I’ll get him. Don’t worry. Just get out.” Robin said steadily. Aqualad looked at him for a moment, before nodding. He grabbed whoever was left before running out of the room, heading toward the exit.

Robin approached the shield cautiously. He rapped it gently, and was disheartened to realize that it was incredibly strong. Robin had hoped that the fear would cause Danny to lose control of his shield, like it had with his invisibility, but it seemed to have had the opposite effect. Danny was scared, and he was keeping his shield up in an attempt to protect himself. Unfortunately, all it did was keep him trapped with the thing that was hurting him.

Robin felt a wave of panic overcome him. Danny was trapped in a small area with an extremely high concentration of some of the most potent fear gas he had ever encountered. That could drive him completely insane, maybe even kill him!

No! He shook his head sharply, fighting back the fear. Danny wasn’t dead. The shield was evidence of that. But he did need to get Danny out, and fast.

Robin reached into his utility belt, pulling out his re-breather. He stuck it in his mouth and took a breath to confirm it was working. He reached back into his belt and hesitated for only a second, before he pulled out a bat-a-rang made of pure ectoranium.

Batman had had a set made after he first learned about ghosts. He had insisted that Robin carry at least one with him, just in case. Robin had hated it at the time, but now he thanked his lucky stars that Batman was so paranoid. 

Robin held the bat-a-rang firmly, then stabbed it into the shield. It pierced about halfway through, and cracks shot away from the impact point. Robin grit his teeth around the re-breather, and twisted the bat-a-rang sharply. 

The shield shattered, and fear gas flooded the room, blinding Robin for a moment. He shuddered as the fear gas swept over him. It felt slimy through the material of his suit, and he felt his heart rate increase even more, even though he wasn’t breathing it in. 

Robin squinted, trying to find Danny in the haze. He stepped forward carefully, not wanting to trample the terrified halfa. He finally spotted his hunched figure on the floor.

Robin fell to his knees beside the stricken halfa. He slipped his arms under Danny’s, clasping them in the front, before standing up, dragging Danny with him. Danny didn’t struggle. He was limp in Robin’s arms, but the Boy Wonder could hear him sobbing.

Robin’s heart was breaking, but he didn’t bother trying to comfort Danny. Nothing he said would help at this point. He needed to get Danny out of the fear gas and then administer the antidote that he always carried with him. He could only hope that it would work on this new version of fear gas.

“I’m sorry!” Danny suddenly screamed. Robin jolted so badly he nearly dropped Danny, but he managed to hold on and keep moving.    


“Mom! Dad! No! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry. I tried to save you! I promise! It wasn’t my fault. It wasn’t!”

Robin froze. Those words hit far too close to home. For a second he was overwhelmed by a memory of death, of the two people he cared about more than anyone falling to their deaths. He could feel the fear gas struggling to take hold, to lose him in grief and fear. He yanked his mind out of the memory and continued, doing his best to ignore Danny’s screams and tears.

After what seemed an eternity, Robin staggered out of the building. Superboy ran up to him, grabbing Danny out of his arms. Danny screamed, fighting to get away, and begging for them not to hurt him. Superboy looked panicked, but he managed to keep a hold of the struggling halfa.

Robin reached into his utility belt and pulled out the antidote. He grabbed Danny’s arm and stabbed the needle into it, injecting the medicine. Danny stiffened for a second, then went completely limp, passing out. 

Robin let out a sigh of relief. It was working the way it was supposed to. He spat out his re-breather and gave Superboy a weary smile.

“It worked. He should be okay now.”

Superboy relaxed, loosening his grip on Danny. At that moment, Kid Flash zoomed up, putting down Artemis.

“Well?” Aqualad asked, taking in the fact that they were alone.

“He got away.” Artemis scowled. “I don’t know how. It’s like he just disappeared!’

Robin sighed, rubbing his forehead. 

“All of Gotham’s villains are like that.” he admitted. “I think they get it from Batman. That’s the only thing that makes sense to me.”

Artemis and Kid Flash looked a little comforted by that fact, when they suddenly spotted Danny.

“Danny!” Kid Flash zipped over to the prone boy, looking at him worriedly. “Is he okay?”

“I gave him the antidote.” Robin said quickly. “He should be fine. Come on. We should head back to the Cave. We could all use some fear gas antidote, and I don’t have anymore. Plus, Batman needs to know what the Scarecrow has done. He needs to be apprehended before he can make any more of that gas.”

The team nodded in agreement, and they boarded the bioship. They were unusually silent as they sat down. No one thought that this mission had been a success.

Robin stared down at the building as they pulled away. His one comfort was that no villains had managed to get anything out of the meeting. At least they hadn’t messed that up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lex Luthor stepped out of the building, pulling off his mask. Mercy followed him, on high alert, but it was unnecessary. The teen heroes were already gone. 

Luthor tapped his chin, contemplative. He smiled at Mercy.

“Well, that was unexpectedly fruitful.” he told his bodyguard, walking toward his car. “Contact the Light. Tell them I’ve found our missing halfa.


	5. Chapter 5

Robin stood still, staring at Danny’s limp form. He was back in the infirmary, once again watching over an unconscious Danny. It was almost worst this time, because now he knew Danny. This wasn’t some stranger, this was a friend.

Black Canary entered the room, walking over to Robin. She studied him for a moment. 

“You should get some rest.” She said finally. “Danny isn’t going to wake for a few more hours. Standing here isn’t going to help him, and he wouldn’t want you to neglect yourself for his sake.”

Robin didn’t say anything. He stayed exactly where he was, never taking his eyes off of Danny. Black Canary waited for a another minute, before she sighed. She turned around and walked toward the door. 

“This is my fault.”

Canary stopped, startled by Robin’s voice. She turned back toward the Boy Wonder, her forehead furrowing in confusion.

“What do you mean?”

Robin finally looked away from Danny, but he didn’t meet Canary’s gaze.

“Danny told me that something about the stage made him feel strange. He begged me to move away, but I didn’t listen. I should have known better. Danny isn’t the type to insist unless things are really serious. The second he brought it up again, I should have listened. It’s my fault that our cover was blown, that the fear gas was released, that Danny-”

Robin choked off his words, falling silent again.

Black Canary placed a hand on Robin’s shoulder, prompting him to look at her.

“This is not your fault Robin.” Robin opened his mouth to argue, but Canary held up a hand, silencing him. “No. It isn’t. It’s Scarecrow’s. No one else's. I do agree that you should have listened to your teammate, but you couldn’t have known what was going to happen.”

Robin looked back at Danny, his face twisted in guilt.

“I was right there.” He whispered. “I was right there and I couldn’t do anything.”

“You did do something.” Canary said softly. “You got Danny out. No one else on the team could have done that. Things went wrong, but you adapted well. The team is safe and alive, including Danny. Hold on to that.”

Robin didn’t respond to Canary’s words. She let go of his shoulder, walking back to the door.

“I’m always here.” she said, pausing in the doorway. “If you need to talk.” And with that, she left Robin alone with Danny.

Robin wasn’t sure how long he stood there before he finally moved. Canary was right, wearing himself out wouldn’t help anything. Not that he intended to leave the room. He was just going to sit down. 

Robin grabbed a chair- the same chair as last time, he noted- and sat down. He wasn’t going to leave this room until Danny woke up. It may have seemed like a bit of an overreaction, but Robin had his reasons for sticking around. It wasn’t just his guilt that kept him in the room. Robin knew how disorientating it was to wake up from the effects of fear gas. Danny would need someone to ground him when he woke up, and Robin wasn’t about to chance him being alone when it happened. Sure, the average person wouldn’t stir for hours, but there was still a lot they didn’t know about Danny’s biology. He could wake up any second, or in a couple of days. They just didn’t know. So Robin wasn’t going to move.

Then there was the other thing. Robin had tried, but he could not rid his mind of the things Danny had screamed while under the influence of the fear gas. There had been multiple names called, he even seemed to refer to himself in the third person at times, but the ones that really stuck out to Robin were Mom and Dad.

Unless Robin had massively misread the situation, he was pretty sure Danny’s parents were dead. That wasn’t surprising. The team had assumed as much when Danny had refused to talk about his family. No, the surprising thing was that Robin was almost positive that Danny had seen it happen. And that hit way too close to home.

Robin picked at his uniform, uneasy. He wasn’t sure he wanted to talk to Danny about what he had heard, but he also wasn’t sure that he could let it go. He needed to know what had happened to Danny’s family. If he didn’t the speculation would drive him crazy.

Decision made, Robin settled more comfortably in his chair. This could take awhile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Danny woke suddenly and violently. For a second, he was sure that he was in Amity Park, reliving one of the worst moments of his life.

“Danny! Breathe! It’s okay. Whatever you think you’re seeing, it’s not real.”

Danny blinked a couple of times, banishing the vision of his hometown. Slowly, the infirmary swam into focus. Danny was startled to realize that he was on the floor, Robin hovering a few feet away.

“You good?” Robin asked. Danny nodded. Robin grinned, grabbing Danny and setting him back on the bed.

“We have to stop meeting like this.” The acrobat said cheerfully. “Next time I find you on the ground in the infirmary, I’m leaving you there.”

Danny blushed, looking at his lap. “I don’t mean to fall out of bed.” He mumbled.

“And yet, here we are.” Robin settled back in his chair, fixing Danny with a serious look.

“Really though, are you okay? Fear gas can take a lot out of a guy.”

“Fear gas. So that’s what that was.” Danny mused, staring at the ceiling. “Appropriate name I guess.”

He suddenly tensed. “Wait! What happened? Is everyone else-”

“They’re fine Danny.” Robin soothed. “No one else even got gassed. You protected us.”

Danny relaxed. “That’s good.”

Robin continued to stare intently at Danny. The halfa ignored him for three seconds before he gave in.

“I’m fine Robin.” he sighed, exasperated. “I’m not made of glass you know. It sucked, but I’ll get over it. I always do.”

Robin didn’t looked pleased, but he let it go. He looked away, fiddling with his gloves. Danny frowned, studying the Boy Wonder. If he didn’t know better, he would say that Robin was… nervous.

“What?” Danny asked suspiciously.

“Hm?” Robin startled at Danny’s voice. Danny’s eyes narrowed.

“What’s up with you? You’re acting weird.”

Robin hesitated, mouth opening and closing a few times as he struggled to find the words. Danny’s anxiety increased the longer the silence stretched. Robin was always calm. If something was bothering him, it must be a big deal.

“I heard what you said.” Robin said finally.

Danny blinked. He had no idea what Robin was talking about.

“While you were under the fear gas.” Robin clarified, seeing Danny’s confusion.

Oh. That wasn’t good. Danny wasn’t certain what he had said, but he knew what he had seen, and if he had let anything slip…

Robin looked extremely uncomfortable. Danny would be willing to bet that Robin wished he hadn’t heard anything, but it was a bit late for that. Regardless, Danny wasn’t going to make this easy on the Boy Wonder. He had less than no desire to talk about his past.

“Danny…”

Danny winced at the tone. He wasn’t going to like this.

“What happened to your family?”

There it was. The question that Danny refused to answer. There was too much pain wrapped up in the answer, and the last thing Danny needed in his life was more pain. He remained steadfastly silent, refusing to look at Robin.

Danny had expected Robin to push for an answer, but he didn’t. He stared at Danny for a long time, a strange look on his face. 

“Batman isn’t my dad. Did you know that?”

Danny looked at Robin, confused by the sudden change in topic. He shook his head slowly.

Robin smiled sadly.

“I’m not surprised. Most people think Batman is my father. But he isn’t. My dad is dead. He and my mother were murdered when I was eight years old. I saw it happen.”

Danny’s mouth fell open. If there was one person who was more secretive about his past than Danny was, it was Robin. He couldn’t believe that Robin was telling him this of his own free will.

Suddenly, Robin’s words sunk in. Oh no, that was awful. He couldn’t imagine how terrible it would be for an eight year old to lose his family that way. How could Robin be so cheerful all the time?

“I’m not telling you this so that you feel bad for me,” Robin said hurriedly. “And you don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to. But… I may be someone who understands. That’s all.”

Danny looked at Robin carefully. He had never thought that he would tell anyone, but…

“It was a normal day. I was coming home from school, when I heard her scream.”

_ “DANNY!!!” _

“The GIW, the government's official anti-ghost squad, had caught a… friend of mine. I had to help her. I confronted the GIW in my ghost form.”

_ “Let her go!” _

_ “Stand down, Phantom. One false move, and your girl here is going to have an extra hole in her head.” _

“That’s when my parents showed up. They… didn’t know about me. About my powers I mean. I never told them because, well, they were ghost hunters. They had a grudge against my ghost half. I constantly had to hear them talk about how they wanted to dissect me. But I still loved them. More than anything. Anyway, them showing up just made the whole situation worse.”

_ “Freeze Ghost Boy!” _

_ “Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, you need to leave. Phantom is under our jurisdiction. You can’t have him.” _

_ “That’s Drs. Fenton to you, creep. And you bet we can have him! We’ve been hunting him longer than you have. We have dibs!” _

“They all started to argue over who had the right to capture me. I thought I could get my friend out while they were distracted, but I was wrong.”

_ “Argh!” _

_ “Nice try Phantom! Thought we weren’t paying attention, did you? Surrender now! This is your last warning!” _

“They were paying more attention than I thought. One of the agents managed to hit me with an ecto gun. There was nothing I could do. I was injured and outnumbered. I should have run, but I couldn’t leave her with them. I knew what they would do to her. I was about to surrender when my friends and sister ran up.”

_ “Danny, no!” _

_ “I have no choice Sam.” _

“They were the only ones who knew about me. My friends Sam and Tucker had been there when I got my powers, and my sister found out later. They helped me, ran interference with my parents and all that. I don’t know what I would have done without them.”

_ “Jazz, sweetie? What are you doing here? Eager to see us capture the Ghost Boy?” _

_ “Mom, no! You can’t!” _

_ “Jazz is right! This is crazy! You guys should leave Dan- uh, I mean Phantom alone! He’s a hero!” _

_ “Tucker dear, Phantom isn’t hero, he’s a menace. We have to capture him. Just move aside, and we’ll finish this.” _

_ “Enough! All you Fentons are a menace! Phantom, surrender!” _

“They tried to get my parents and the GIW to back down, but it was pointless. I could tell that the situation was getting crazy out of hand. I was afraid that people were about to start pulling triggers, and I didn’t want anyone to get hurt, so I surrendered.”

_ “Okay, okay! I surrender! Just… don’t shoot anyone, alright?” _

“I landed in front of them, hands in the air. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn’t what happened. They took out this strange collar and put it around my neck. They second it closed, it shocked me so badly I couldn’t keep my ghost form. I changed back to human. That was when everything fell apart.”

_ “What- Danny? Is this a trick?” _

_ “No mom. Danny is Phantom! He has been ever since he was shocked by the portal! He’s not evil, he’s a hero!” _

“My parents were shocked. They had no idea what was going on. My sister explained the truth to them and they just… reacted immediately.”

_ “Let go of my son!” _

_ “Mr. Fenton, lower your weapon. Daniel is now property of the U.S. government. Stand down, now!” _

_ “Not gonna happen punk! That’s my baby, and you aren’t taking him anywhere!” _

“They defended me. They accepted me, called me their son. Instantly, without hesitation. It was everything I could have ever hoped for. But I almost wish that they hadn’t. If they had abandoned me, they would still be alive.”

_ “Clearly, you have been contaminated by ecto energy. There is no other explanation for why you are defending this abomination. Under section 4.2 of category 7.8 of the anti-ecto act, I am obligated to cleanse the breach.” _

_ “What- cleanse?” _

_ “Men, FIRE!” _

_ “NO!” _

“The GIW shot them down. They just… killed them. They cited some nonsense law about ecto contamination, but really they just wanted my parents out of the way. They never would have let them take me without a fight.”

_ “MOM! DAD! NONONO, WHY?” _

_ “Hold still Phantom. Don’t make us damage you prematurely!” _

_ “Monsters! How could you?” _

_ “Sam, no! Don’t!” _

“Sam attacked the main agent. She was furious. She should have run. They all should have run. They were witnesses, and the GIW couldn’t afford for them to stay alive.”

_ “Get rid of the witnesses. They are most likely contaminated as well.” _

_ “Yes sir!” _

_ “No! No please, don’t-” _

_ “AAAAH!” _

_ “SAM! Nonono, stop, stop hurting them, don’t kill- Tucker! Jazz! NO!” _

“I couldn’t do anything. They left their bodies in the street. Their deaths were probably blamed on ghosts. Injuries from ecto guns and ecto rays are pretty similar. You wouldn’t know the difference unless you were an expert. And they had just killed the only experts around who would dare speak against them.”

_ “Quit crying freak. Honestly, we haven’t even done anything to you yet. Wait til we get to lab. Our scientists will give you something real to cry about.” _

“They took me and my friend to the lab. She ended up dying anyway. I didn’t have anyone left in the end. I failed them all.”

Danny shook his head, pulling himself out of his memories. He wiped at his eyes, surprised to see that he was crying.

“I’m going to go to sleep now, if that’s okay. I don’t feel very good.”

Robin nodded, not saying anything. Danny lay back down, pulling his blanket up.

“I don’t feel any better.” He said quietly.

“You will.”

Danny let out a shaky breath at Robin’s words. “I sure hope so.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Robin left the infirmary, closing the door quietly. He didn’t want Danny to wake up. He wished he could say that he was surprised when he saw Batman standing in the hallway, but he wasn’t.

“I assume you knew all that.” He said tiredly, gesturing toward the infirmary.

“Jack and Madeline Fenton.” Batman said in a monotone voice. “Ghost scientists and hunters. Died 10 months ago in a ghost attack. Their daughter, Jasmine Fenton, and two family friends, Samantha Manson and Tucker Foley, also died in the attack. It is assumed that their youngest, Daniel Fenton, is also dead, though no body was ever found. Coincidentally, the town’s resident ghost hero, Phantom, disappeared at the same time of the attack, leading many to believe that he was the perpetrator. Though I think we can safely say that that isn’t the case.”

“Of course.” Robin muttered sourly. “And you didn’t think to tell me any of this?”

“It wasn’t my story to tell.” Batman said softly. The tension drained from Robin’s shoulders.

“You’re right,” he muttered. “It’s just…”

“I know.”

The two heroes stood in silence for a moment, each remembering the worst days of their lives. Robin snapped out of it first.

“Why are you here?”

Batman started walking, and Robin followed.

“I wanted to hear Danny’s version of those events. I suspected that things weren’t as simple as they appeared, but I had no proof. Now we have a witness.”

“Yeah, a witness with no rights.” Robin pointed out. “Even if we brought this to court, all it would do was put Danny back in their hands.”

“I know, but now we know that a crime was committed. If we can prove it without Danny, we can get the GIW shut down.”

“Which would be a huge step toward getting the law changed.” Robin said, excitement creeping into his voice. “If the agency that pushed for it was proven corrupt, the legality of the law would be called into question.”

Batman nodded. “That isn’t all. I strongly suspect that the GIW aren’t just experimenting on ghosts.”

“What?” Robin asked, shocked. 

“Remember what Danny said when he was… speaking with Superman?”

Robin thought back trying to remember. He had been so shocked at the time, that Danny’s words hadn’t really penetrated.

“He said that when trying to replicate his accident, all of the GIW’s test subjects died.” Batman reminded.

Robin felt all the blood drain from his face. “Of course. They wouldn’t try something like that on a ghost. They would need human test subjects. And if they all died, they probably weren’t willing.”

“It doesn’t even matter if they were willing.” Batman said seriously. “That kind of experimentation on humans is illegal, no matter what. If this got out, the GIW would be ruined.”

“Well, why don’t we expose them then?” Robin asked, eager to make the world safer for Danny. He had been through so much, he deserved that at least.

“We don’t have proof.” Batman said, frustration leaking into his voice. “I’ve been trying to hack their database for months, but I can’t break through. I think they have some kind of ghostly technology protecting it. It’s the only explanation.” 

“Let me try!” Robin said quickly. “You focus on proving they killed the Fentons, and I’ll work on getting into their system. A new pair of eyes could be exactly what you need!”

“Maybe.” Batman acknowledged, walking into the main hangar of the Cave. He headed toward the Zeta tube, Robin following close behind. 

Robin was ecstatic. Finally, they were really working on putting away the people who had hurt Danny. This was a definite plan of action, not just a vague promise in the back of his mind. He couldn’t wait to tell Danny when they finally put the men responsible for his family’s murder behind bars. 

Robin’s smile faded. Oh. Danny’s family. It didn’t matter if the men responsible rotted away in prison. Danny’s family would never come back. Robin knew from experience that justice did not fill the hole that loved ones left in your life. Six years later, he still missed his parents just as fiercely as he did the first night they died. Some days the pain nearly overwhelmed, leaving him struggling to smile. Danny would have to live like that, no matter what he and Batman did.

Robin forced his thoughts away from such depressing thoughts. He focused on his computer, planning out his strategy for attacking the GIW’s firewall. Batman wasn’t wrong, it was incredibly strong. Robin was almost certain that it was written in a different code than normal software. He would have to decipher this new language before he could even begin to try and break through.

As Robin began to work, he sent a silent thought to the boy sleeping in the Cave’s infirmary.

_ “I’m so sorry they are gone. I know that nothing will ever replace them. But rest assured, they will be avenged. I promise.” _


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh dear. Um, warning I guess. This chapter gets pretty dark, and a kid dies. If that bothers you, you can skip the middle section. The first and last sections are actually really nice and fluffy, and you can prolly guess what happens in the middle part.

Wally lay upside down on the couch, eating popcorn. He was staring very intently at something on the opposite side of the room. The object of his scrutiny ignored him, but Wally didn’t mind. No one could ignore him forever.

Wally waited for another minute before getting bored. He tossed a piece of popcorn across the room, nailing his subject directly in the forehead.

“Hey!” Danny yelped, brushing off his forehead. He glared at Wally, who grinned and waved. Danny rolled his eyes before burying himself back in his textbook.

Wally frowned. Danny had been unusually studious the past few days. Danny didn’t actually go to school because: a. It was dangerous for him to show his face in public and b. He had missed almost an entire year of school. Instead, he was… well, home schooled for lack of a better word. Red Tornado was his teacher, trying to catch Danny up so that maybe he could attend school once it was safe for him to do so.

Danny tried, he really did, but he wasn’t exactly the most stellar student. School hadn’t been a priority for him in a long time, and it was hard to get back into that mind frame. Which made Danny’s unusual amount of studying worrisome. Wally couldn’t think of a good reason that Danny would suddenly decide he had an unquenchable thirst for algebra. It was a subject which he had said that he hated multiple times, yet he had suddenly developed a desire to learn so great that he was read the freaking textbook in his downtime? No, Wally recognized this. Danny was looking for a distraction, and he was so desperate to find one he would stoop to doing anything, even reading about math.

Wally hummed to himself, thinking. If Danny wanted a distraction, he was glad to provide one. He could be much more entertaining than some boring old textbook. But what to do…

Wally glanced at Robin, who was sitting next to him on the couch. Normally he would ask his friend for ideas, but he had the feeling that wouldn’t fly today. Rob had also been acting strange since the whole Scarecrow disaster. He was constantly on his laptop, typing away at full speed, usually with a scowl on his face. Wally recognized this too. Robin was trying to hack into something, and judging by the muffled curses he was constantly muttering, it wasn’t going well.

That really was strange. For Robin to work so consistently for so long on trying to hack something, only to not make any breakthroughs at all? Unheard of. It made Wally wonder what on earth he was trying to hack. It couldn’t be the Pentagon or the Justice League, or anything like that. Robin could hack those in his sleep. Well, whoever they were, Wally felt bad for them. Robin would eventually break through, and when he did, he would be pissed. And the last thing anyone wanted to deal with was an angry bird.

Considering that fact, Wally weighed the pros and cons of bothering Robin. On the plus side, it would be very funny, and would most likely be an entertaining show for Danny, distracting him from whatever had pushed him into schoolwork. On the downside, Robin would probably kill him. Which would admittedly also be distracting for Danny, but Wally wasn’t sure he was willing to go quite that far in the name of entertainment. 

Idea discarded, Wally cast about for a new one. The problem was that he didn’t know much about Danny. Sure, he had been living in the Cave for two months, but he never really talked about himself. Wally didn’t know if he liked sports, or his favorite food, or where he grew up, or anything really. Wally didn’t hold it against him. He had been tortured for months, that would change a guy. Wally wouldn’t be surprised if Danny was still trying to remember who he was. But the problem remained that he wasn’t sure what would be the best way to distract Danny.

Wally’s eyes wandered around the room, looking for inspiration. Suddenly, it hit him.

“Hey Danny!”

Danny sighed, before looking up at Wally.

“Wally, I’m trying to study. If you’re bored, why don’t you go watch a movie or something?”

Wally waved a hand dismissively. 

“I’m not bored. This is important! Besides, you’ve been reading that book for hours. You need a break.”

“I’ve been reading it for thirty minutes.” Danny muttered, but he closed the book and set it aside. He rested his face in his hands and stared at Wally. “Go for it.”

Wally flipped around so he was right side up, copying Danny’s position.

  
  
“Danny,” he said seriously. “What do you want your superhero name to be?”

“Seriously?” Danny threw his arms up, exasperated. “That was your big important thing?”

“It is important.” Wally whined. “When the law is changed, you are going to be introduced as an official hero, and you’ll need a name! Honestly, I’m kind of surprised that Batman has allowed you into the field without one.”

“Artemis doesn’t have one.” Danny grumbled, reaching for his book.

Wally zoomed across the room, shoving the book away while simultaneously wrapping an arm around Danny’s shoulders.

“Artemis doesn’t count.” Wally said, ignoring Danny’s flinch at the sudden contact. “Her name fits her superhero persona creepily well. No one will believe that you chose ‘Danny’ as your superhero name.”

“Leave him alone KF.” Robin said, not looking up from his laptop. “He doesn’t have to pick a name yet if he doesn’t want to.”

“Come Rob, I thought you’d be on my side.” Wally made puppy dog eyes at Robin, which was pointless considering Robin wasn’t looking at him. “The criminals need something to scream when Danny dishes out some ghostly justice on them. Something like, ‘Ah! Here comes Dead Guy! Run!!!’”

Danny couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Really? ‘Dead Guy’ is the best you can come up with?”

Wally pretended to be embarrassed, but inwardly he was cheering. Yes! He got Danny to laugh. This was going great! Time to kick it up a notch.

“Well, I didn’t really think about it…” Wally mumbled, looking sheepish. He brightened quickly though, a list of possible names running through his head.

“Hey, what about ‘King of the Dead’? Nice intimidation factor, and it implies you’re royalty, which always freaks out the bad guys.”

Danny snorted, shaking his head.

“Uh, no. I’ve met the actual King of the Dead, and I can’t imagine he would be very happy with me if he found out I was going around calling myself that.”

“Whoa, you’ve met the King of the Dead?” Wally asked excitedly. “That’s so cool! What was he like.”

“He was a tyrant.” Danny said blandly. “So I fought him and locked him in the Sarcophagus of Everlasting Sleep.”

Wally blinked. Well that was unexpected. Super cool, but unexpected. Still, it gave him an idea.

“So, you probably know a lot of ghosts, right?”

Danny looked at him suspiciously. “Yes…”

“So what do they call you?” Wally asked eagerly. “Maybe we can base your name off of that!”

Danny looked skeptical. “I don’t know…”

“Come on, it will be great!” Wally said cheerfully, convinced that this was a good idea. 

“You don’t get it.” Danny said, aggravated. “The ghosts don’t exactly call me anything nice. It’s all twerp and whelp and Dipstick and stuff like that. The nicest thing they call me is halfa, and that’s basically a racial slur.”

“Ah.” Wally wilted. That… was a bit depressing. It seemed that neither of Danny’s species really accepted him. And things had been going so well. 

“Don’t any of them call you something positive?” he asked plaintively, desperate to salvage the situation.

Danny got a thoughtful look on his face.

“Well…” he said slowly. “My friend Wulf calls me Amiko. It means friend in Esperanto.”

Wally’s face crinkled in confusion. “Esperanto?”

“It’s some nerd language.” Danny said dismissively. “Lot’s of ghosts speak it for some reason. I don’t really get it.”

Robin, who had been mostly ignoring them up to this point, suddenly froze.

“Ghosts speak Esperanto?” he asked, looking up from his computer for the first time since he entered the room.

“Um, yes?” Danny answered, confused over why it mattered. “I mean, not all of them. But a significant portion do. And it is weirdly easy for ghosts to learn the language. I managed it in two weeks, and I’m not exactly a language prodigy.” 

Robin nodded quickly, looking back at his computer. He started typing again, faster than before if that was even possible.

If Wally strained his ears, he could just here what Robin was muttering.

“Of course! If the base were in Esperanto, which has a different alphabet, than that would mean… yes!”

Robin leapt to his feet, holding his computer aloft triumphantly. He started doing a little dance, so excited about his victory.

“I knew it! I knew that if I could find the language I could crack it. I was so close, I was just missing a few pieces! I have to go tell Batman!”

Robin ran from the room, cackling gleefully. Danny and Wally looked at each other for a second before bursting into laughter.

“Is he always like that when he hacks into something?” Danny asked, wiping away tears of mirth.

“You know what?” Wally said cheerfully. “I think that is the most excited I have ever seen Rob about a successful hack. I really wish I knew who he was trying to infiltrate.”

“It’s probably for the best that we don’t know.” Danny said mock seriously, unable to keep a straight face.

“Point.” Wally acknowledged, standing up. “Anyway, you said something about a movie? I’ve been dying to watch the newest Mission Impossible. Come on, let’s go. I’ll pop some more popcorn.”

Danny stood up as well, following Wally to the T.V. Wally grinned to himself. He had successfully helped Danny and Robin get over whatever had been bothering them. Not too shabby.

Soon, both teens were seated cheerfully on the couch, and Wally started the movie. Danny’s math book lay forgotten.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Batman!!! Batman, I got it!!”

Batman turned away from the monitor as Robin came running into the Batcave. He was waving his computer around so wildly that Batman was mildly concerned that he would drop it.

“You got what?”

“I broke through the GIW’s security!” Robin was beaming as he presented his laptop to Batman. “We have access to everything!”

Batman raised an eyebrow, though it couldn’t be seen through his cowl. He took the laptop, flicking through files.

“How did you manage it?” he asked, taking the time to copy over the more incriminating files. He felt slightly ill reading through some of their experiments. Unfortunately, all of these had been performed on ghosts. While the nature of the experiments would definitely anger some people, they wouldn’t ensure the shut down of the agency. He kept looking as Robin launched into a complicated explanation of his process while hacking the database.

“But I kept running into walls.” Robin finally said. “I was so close, but I was working on the assumption that this was some kind of ghost language. Once I realized it was Esperanto-”

“You know Esperanto?” Batman asked, pausing in his perusal of the files.

“Of course.” Robin scoffed. “Except it wasn’t really Esperanto, I would have noticed that right away. It was actually English written with a modified version of the Esperanto alphabet. Once I realized that, everything fell into place. It was easy to get in after that.”

Batman nodded.

“Good job Robin.” he said turning his attention more fully toward the files he had unlocked.

Robin fairly glowed at the praise. He hopped onto the back of Batman’s chair, looking over his shoulder at the screen.

“Anything useful? I was too excited to actually look.”

Batman continued flipping through files, skimming each one before moving on. 

“Not yet. All of these were technically legal, though not morally sound. We need something done to humans.”

“Like that?” Robin asked, pointing at a specific file. His voice was a little shaky, his excitement fading as he realized exactly what he had unlocked.

Batman frowned, opening the folder Robin had noticed. It was labeled Phantom, and Batman had a bad feeling about what it contained.

He read through the preliminary reports, which specified how Phantom was captured. Unfortunately, it did not mention the deaths of the Fentons. Moving on, he skipped past pages of various stats and measurements, looking for evidence of the human experimentation that Danny had alluded to. 

He paused as he came to a video. He glanced at the title of the video and frowned.

“Robin, go upstairs.”

“What? No!” Robin yelled. “I’m the one who got us access to these, I want to see them!” 

“Robin, you don’t want to see this.” Batman said gently. 

“I’ve seen plenty of bad things before.” Robin muttered petulantly. “How is this different?”

“Do you really want to watch as a friend of yours is tortured?” Batman asked sternly, spinning around to look at Robin. “Do you think you’ll ever be able to look at Danny again without remembering what it looked like when he had a hole in his chest? Will you be able to talk to him without hearing his screams in your head? Is that what you want?”

Robin stared at Batman, shock and hurt written over his face. Batman sighed, running a hand over his face.

“I know that you could handle seeing this.” he said softly. “I just don’t think you should have to.”

Robin was silent for a second before he slipped off of Batman’s chair. He walked toward the stairs that lead to the manner. He paused at the top of the stairs.

“Take them down.” He said. “Whatever it takes. The GIW cannot continue.”

Batman nodded, and Robin left.

Batman turned back to the computer. He took a deep breath. He had no desire to watch this video, or any of the ones that followed, but it was necessary. Bracing himself, he pushed play. 

The screen focused on a lab, a man in a lab coat front and center. He was looking at a clipboard when he seemed to realize that the camera was on.

“Ah. Hello. This is the first of a series of videos that will be chronicling the experiments on our newest acquisition, Phantom. We’ve done all the basic testing, and today we are beginning some of the more invasive tests, starting with vivisection.”

At that moment, the door to the lab opened, and two guards entered, dragging Danny between them. Danny didn’t look good. His face was heavily bruised, and he wasn't supporting his own weight. 

“Oh, here it is. Place the subject on the table gentlemen.”

Danny seemed to come alive at that. He jerked in the men’s grip, struggling to get away.

“No.” he mumbled. 

The men ignored him, strapping him onto the table. The man in the lab coat came over, picking up a scalpel from a tray next to the table. 

“We will start with a y-cut.” the scientist said to the camera, standing over Danny. 

Danny was sobbing at this point, twisting violently on the table. All of the men ignored his begging as the scientist began to cut.

When Danny started screaming, Batman closed the video. He didn’t need to see the rest. It was pretty clear what happened.

Batman skipped through the other videos, mostly just looking at the descriptions to see what they were about. Batman had thought that he had seen the worst that mankind had to offer, but watching these videos made him realize that there was no limit to the depravity that men would sink to.

A specific video caught his attention. Frowning, he opened it.

The same man as before stood in front of the camera. He seemed excited. 

“Today is the day! We are finally prepared to recreate the accident that created subject Phantom!”

The man walked away. After a moment, the camera swung around, focusing on a strange contraption. It appeared to be two large tubes that were connected by a series of wires and pipes. Danny was strapped into the first tube. Batman winced as he looked closer. Strapped was the wrong word. It would be more appropriate to say that he was wired into the machine. Needles and wires were attached to various points of his body, trapping him in the device. Danny didn’t seem truly aware of where he was. His eyes were blank and glazed over.

The scientist stepped up to the machine, smiling at it lovingly. 

“All attempts to create a working ghost portal have failed.” He told the camera, looking upset at the news. “So we have had to improvise. This device measures Phantom’s energy signature and replicates it in the second tube. We are hopeful that if we combine Phantom’s energy signature with enough raw ectoplasm and a high enough electrical charge, we will be able to create a creature similar to Phantom.”

The man turned to the door to the lab. “Bring in the test subject!”

Batman watched in horror as a child was dragged into the room. He was gagged, but it was obvious that he was terrified. Tears were streaming down his face and he struggled to get away from the men holding him. 

“We’ve chosen the test subject for the similarities to Phantom at the time of the accident. Same gender, blood type, and age. Hopefully this will make the procedure go smoother.”

The man approached the terrified boy, cupping his face gently. 

“You should be honored.” he said softly. “Your sacrifice will greatly benefit the scientific community.”

The scientist let go of the boy, who shook his head over and over. The guards strapped him into the other tube, before retreating a safe distance.

“Test one, about to commence!” And with that, the scientist pressed a button on the device.

Instantly, Danny’s body seized. He began to scream as the tubes and wires attached to him lit up.

Soon the other tube lit up as well, the light getting brighter and brighter as the sequence progressed. Batman had to look away as the light became blinding.

Suddenly, it was over. Batman watched as the guards removed the boy from the tube. His unnaturally still form told Batman all he needed to know. 

“No…” Danny finally seemed to realize what was going on. He stared at the dead body in disbelief. Tears started to run down his face as he sobbed, shaking in his restraints.

The scientist approached the boy, taking his pulse. He sighed, making a note on his clipboard. 

“Test one failed.” he said, sounding vaguely disappointed, and not as though a child had just died. “Ah well. The odds of it working on the first try were astronomical. We will adjust the settings and bring in the next test subject.”

Batman stopped the video. He had what he needed. The GIW was going down.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Guys!”

Robin ran into the Cave at full speed, interrupting the team’s movie. Megan pushed pause as Robin launched himself onto the couch. 

“Dude, where have you been?” Wally whined. “You’ve been MIA since you ran out of here a week ago. We thought you’d been kidnapped or something.”

“I’ve been busy.” Robin said cheerfully, grabbing the remote from Megan. “You guys have got to see this!”

He changed the channel, ignoring Wally’s complaint. He stopped when he got to a channel playing the news.

“Yay, the news.” Wally grumbled. “Just what a bunch of teenagers want to watch in their spare time.”

“I hate to agree with Wally, but yeah, what gives?” Artemis asked. “We were finally watching a movie I actually wanted to see.”

“Just wait.” Robin said with a grin.

The team exchanged looks before shrugging. When Robin got like this, it was easier to just go with it rather than try and fight him.

The team watched the news for about five minutes, getting more and more restless. Wally was just about to complain again when it happened.

“Breaking News.” the newscaster said. “Footage from a government lab run by the Ghostly Investigation Ward, or GIW, has been leaked.”

Danny’s mouth fell open. He stared at Robin with big eyes.

“Early this week, information concerning the GIW’s experiments were leaked to several high government officials. The content of these files were highly upsetting. Even though ghosts are currently classified as non sentient by the US government, the experiments that were performed on them seem severe and extreme, and the reactions of the ghosts have led many to question whether or not the claim that they cannot feel pain is true.”

The entire team was riveted as they watched the broadcast. Danny had tears welling in his eyes as he saw the first steps toward his freedom play out. 

“If the horrific nature of the experiments were not enough, footage of GIW scientists experimenting on living people has also been found. Multiple officials have already begun to talk about shutting down the organization for good. Some prominent public figures have also made their thoughts on the subject known.”

Here the screen cut away from the newsroom, showing a clip of Bruce Wayne standing in front of the mayor’s office in Gotham.

“This is truly a horrible situation which never should have occurred.” The White Knight of Gotham said. “To imagine that these people are being tortured by our own government. Seeing the abuses of the GIW, I for one think that the law designating ghosts’ standing in the eyes of the law should be revoked and replaced with one granting them the protection they deserve as intelligent beings.” 

The T.V. switched back to the newsroom, where the anchor was looking off to the side.

“Amazing. In a new twist on this story, the Justice League has just taken an official stance on the issue. We take you live to the scene.”

The screen cut to Superman standing in front of the Hall of Justice. He had just started his speech.

“When I first became of hero, people said a lot of the same things about aliens that they are now saying about ghosts. Just because we were different, they treated us like we couldn’t hurt, or have feelings. I am so glad that the people of Earth decided to give us a chance. Now I ask you to give that chance to ghosts. I’m not saying that it will easy, or that no ghosts will ever attack or be violent. But isn’t it worth it to spare the innocent, to develop a friendship with an entire new species? For that reason, the Justice League is officially recognizing all ghosts as sentient beings with all civil rights applied, and we will be treating them as such in our encounters with them. Thank you.”

With his speech finished, Superman left the stand. The screen cut back to the newsroom.

“Well, there you have it.” The anchor said. “With several high ranking government officials calling for it’s disbandment, and such powerful voices as Bruce Wayne and the Justice League speaking against it, it seems clear that the GIW’s days are numbered.”

Robin turned off the T.V. as the news moved on to other matters. Danny was full on crying at this point, staring at the blank T.V. in wonder.

“Is this real?” He asked in a shaky voice. “Did that actually just happen?”

“It did.” Connor said with a grin. “Danny, you’re going to be free!”

Danny laughed, tears of joy streaming down his face. He jumped off the couch, transforming as he went. He flipped into the air, still laughing. Megan flew up to join him hugging him in midair. 

“I’m free!” Danny said it over and over, unable to really believe it. “I’m finally free!”

“This calls for a party!” Wally yelled. “I’ll order pizza!”

Robin watched with satisfaction as each team member hugged Danny. He was slightly surprised as Danny ran up to him.

“This was you.” Danny said. “This is what you’ve been doing this week.”

Robin shrugged, trying to look casual.

“Well, I just broke through the GIW’s firewall. Batman organized all the information and got it to the right people, it really wasn’t-”

Robin stopped when Danny threw his arms around him.

“Thank you.” Danny whispered.

Robin didn’t hesitate in wrapping his arms around Danny.

“You’re welcome.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah! I'm so sorry I forgot to do this yesterday. I honestly forgot that it was Monday... Quarantine is really messing with me. Anyway, here it is. I hope you like it!

Luthor paused the video, freezing it on the news anchor's face. This was an unfortunate development. He would have liked to be able to hold the ghost boy legally, but it appeared that that was off the table now. Ah well, it’s not like the legality of something had ever stopped him before. It would just be a bit harder now. Luckily, he was never one to back down from a challenge. 

Well, one thing would be easier at least. Opening his email, he composed a message to the leader of the committee dedicated to investigating the GIW. The man in question owed Luthor a favor, and he was finally going to call it in.

Having sent the email, Luthor leaned back in his chair, a satisfied smile on his face. Soon LexCorp would have access to all of the GIW’s technology. Of course, he played it off as just wanting to help. After all, the technology had to go somewhere, so why not into the hands of one of the public’s most trusted corporations? Surely they wouldn’t misuse it. 

Luthor opened the file on the ghost boy, pulling up a picture of the boy. He grinned.

_ Soon, Phantom. Soon. _

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Danny fidgeted, fingering his shirt. It was not something that he would have chosen to wear, but Megan had been so excited when she gave it to him that he felt obligated to put it on. Now he wished he had just put on one of his normal t-shirts. He was nervous enough without adding unfamiliar clothing to the mix.

“Relax Danny!” Robin said with a grin. “This will be fun!”

Danny grimaced. “I’m not sure that this is a good idea guys.”

“Come on.” Wally said, throwing an arm around Danny, ignoring the usual flinch. “You haven’t left the Cave once since you moved in. Except for missions, and those don't count. Now that the GIW is gone, we can finally have some fun!”

“The law hasn’t changed.” Danny muttered, looking at the ground.

“It will.” Kaldur said firmly. “Have faith Danny. The people of this world will not let you down.”

Danny gave Kaldur a faint smile. It faded as they approached the door that led out of the Cave.

“I feel sick.” he mumbled.

Artemis rolled her eyes. “It’s a carnival Danny. It’s not like we’re heading into battle.”

“I would prefer a battle.” Danny muttered. “I don’t like crowds.”

“There shouldn’t be very many people.” Robin reassured. “I picked the time of day where most people are at school or work. Besides it’s not like it’s the State Fair or something. It’s just a tiny carnival in tiny town in Rhode Island, the tiniest state. It’ll be fine.”

Danny scowled, but he followed the team out of the Cave.

Danny stopped dead once he emerged out of the shadow cast by the mountain. His breath hitched as he stared up at the sky above. He closed his eyes, basking in the sunlight.

The rest of the team paused, looking back at the motionless halfa.

“Are you okay Danny?” Megan asked, walking back up to him.

“Yeah,” Danny said breathlessly. “It’s just, all of our missions have been at night and… this is the first time I’ve seen sunlight in almost a year.”

Danny smiled, all of his nervousness from before gone. “I’d forgotten how warm light could be.”

The rest of the team exchanged looks. It was easy to forget what Danny had been through, but then something like this would remind them. Connor approached Danny, smiling up at the sky.

“I remember the first time I saw a sunrise.” Connor said wistfully. “It was beautiful.” 

Danny stretched out his arms to better feel the warmth of the sun.

“The sunrise is nice,” Danny said, his eyes still closed. “But I always loved the stars. When I was in the lab, I would close my eyes and map out the constellations in my head. After a while, I started to forget what they looked like. I was so scared. They had taken everything from me, but at least I had the stars. When they started to fade, it was like the last thing that made me  _ me  _ was going with them. I am so happy that I can see the stars again.”

Connor let Danny relish the sunlight for a moment longer before putting a hand on Danny’s arm. Danny opened his eyes, looking at the clone. Connor gestured toward the rest of the team with his head.

“Come on. Rob spent a lot of money on those tickets. Would hate for them to go to waste.”

“Money is no object.” Robin said, waving a dismissive hand. “But time is. Let’s move people! I want to go on every ride at least twice!”

Danny laughed with the rest of the team, his worries forgotten. 

Unfortunately, Danny’s worries would turn out to be well founded. The day started well, with the whole team enjoying the carnival food and rides. Danny was a little anxious at first, but soon he was laughing and yelling just as much as the others. For the first time ages, he felt like a normal teenager.

The team was taking a break to eat lunch when disaster struck. An explosion ripped through the fairgrounds, causing instant panic among the attendees. Danny reacted on instinct, ducking behind an abandoned food cart and transforming into Phantom. Turning invisible, he headed toward the source of the explosion.

Getting closer, he was relieved to see that it was just a malfunctioning ride. It had been shut down when they arrived, much to Robin’s disappointment, but now it seemed that they were lucky that the carnival had been responsible enough to close the ride. No one had been hurt in the accident. 

Danny was about to return to the team when someone screamed. He spun around to see that the decorative globe at the center of the ride had been destabilized by the explosion. It fell off the ride, scattering people in its wake. Danny tensed as he saw a teenage girl trip and fall directly into its path. He darted forward, grabbing the girl and turning her intangible just as the ball hit them.

“Are you okay?” Danny asked once the globe had passed. The girl opened her eyes, looking up at Danny. Her mouth fell open, and she stared at him, not responding to his question.

Danny frowned, worried that that she had hurt herself when she fell. “Are you hurt?”

The girl blinked before breaking into a beautiful smile.

“You saved me.” she said breathlessly. 

Danny blushed, helping the girl to her feet. “It was nothing.”

“Yes it was! You saved my life!” A crowd was starting to form around the two, and Danny was getting more and more uncomfortable. 

“Are you a new hero?” Someone from the crowd called.

Danny jerked in the direction of the voice. The girl whom he had saved grabbed his arm. 

“Of course he is.” she said, still smiling at Danny.

“What’s your name?” Another voice called. 

More and more people began to close in, asking for his name. Feeling overwhelmed, all Danny could think was thank goodness Wally had got him thinking about a superhero name a couple weeks ago, or he would be screwed right about now. 

“Enough!” the original girl yelled. “If you want an answer, you need to quiet down.”

Immediately the crowd went silent, all of them looking expectantly at Danny. Danny swallowed, but he took a deep breath and spoke.

“You can call me… Shade.”

And with that, he vanished.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“In other news, a new superhero was spotted in Happy Harbor, Rhode Island, earlier this day.”

“Spotted?” Danny said incredulously. “That makes me sound like some rare animal that someone was lucky enough to see in its natural territory.”

“Shh.” Wally smacked Danny’s arm a few times, eyes glued to the television.

“This hero, calling himself Shade, saved a young girl from a rampaging globe at the town’s local carnival.”

“Rampaging?” Danny squeaked. “It was just rolling on the ground.”

“SHH!!!” Wally said again, shoving more popcorn into his face. 

“We managed to talk to the girl in question.”

The T.V. cut to the teenage girl Danny had saved. 

“It was incredible.” She gushed. “I was so scared, then suddenly I hear this voice asking if I was okay, and I look up into the most gorgeous pair of green eyes I have ever seen. I swear, for a minute, I thought I’d died and that an angel had arrived to take me into heaven.”

The girl stared off into space dreamily. She said more, but it was drowned out by Wally and Robin’s hysterical laughter. Danny flushed bright red as they laughed. 

“Aw, Danny. She likes you!” Megan squealed. Danny groaned.

“Megan, I don’t even know her name.” he moaned. 

Wally fake swooned, collapsing onto Danny’s lap. “Oh sweet angel. Save me from this cruel world. Carry me to heaven, where I can meet some super hot lady angels”

Danny buried his face in his hands, turning invisible out of sheer humiliation. 

“This was the worst possible way to introduce myself to the public.” His voice drifted from the general area he had last been seen.

“Well, that’s not true.” Robin said, calming down slightly. He opened his laptop, flicking through different sites, all discussing the appearance of a new hero. “Lots of people have speculated that you may be a ghost. The idea of a ghost hero has made public support for ghosts skyrocket. Really, your introduction into public life couldn't have come at a better time.”

“Really?” Danny asked hopefully, fading back into view. Robin nodded. 

“Yep. Looks like the world is ready for the newest hero in town: Shade!”

“Speaking of,” Wally said, rolling off of Danny’s lap. “How’d you pick your name? I like it.”

“Ah.” Danny suddenly looked uncomfortable, refusing to look anyone in the eye. The levity in the room dropped as everyone picked up in Danny’s mood.

“Danny?” Kaldur asked, concerned by Danny’s sudden mood swing.

Danny smiled a sickly smile. “Th-there’s no particular reason I picked that name. I just thought it, um, sounded cool.”

“You are a terrible liar Danny.” Robin said gently. “Come on. We won’t judge.”

Danny looked at each of them individually, before taking a deep breath.

“The thing is,” he began hesitantly. “There are different kinds of ghosts. Shades are one type.”

Danny’s voice grew slightly more confident as he explained. “They are what people typically think of when they think of ghosts. They never fully formed. Either there wasn’t enough ectoplasm to create a full ghost, or the emotions were distorted or muffled somehow. The result is something that isn’t really alive. They are just echos, remnants of someone who has moved on.”

Danny hesitated, becoming unsure again. “I guess I called myself Shade because, well, sometimes I feel like one. I feel like I’m not really a person anymore. I’m just the leftovers of who I used to be. They destroyed who I was before.”

Danny refused to meet anyone’s eyes, ashamed of his admission. Robin was the first to break the heavy silence.

“Why didn’t you tell us you felt that way?”

“I didn’t want to bother you.” Danny mumbled. “You’ve all done so much for me, I don’t want to impose more than I already have.”

“Danny, your presence is not a burden.” Kaldur said kindly. “In fact, I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say we rather enjoy having you around.”

Everyone on the team nodded earnestly. Danny looked at them, unsure that they really meant it. He had tried to accept their kindness and friendship, but there had always been a voice in the back of his head insisting that they only kept him around because he was useful, that no one would ever want something like him around. 

Danny laughed, a slightly strangled sound, but genuine nonetheless.

“Sorry,” he said, taking in the team’s surprised expressions. “It’s just, I thought that I was past the whole ‘no one will ever love you because you’re a freak’ thing. I guess I’m not as okay as I thought.”

Danny wiped at the tears on his face. He hadn’t noticed he’d been crying. “I guess I’m so used to pretending that I’m fine that I forgot that it was alright to not be fine. If that makes any sense.”

“You’re talking to a group of teenage superheroes.” Artemis said dryly. “Do you really think that any of us are 100 percent okay?”

Danny laughed again, more naturally this time. “You got me there.”

Danny took in the team’s worried faces. “I really am okay guys. I do know that you guys care about me, I swear. I just, need reminders sometimes. That’s all.”

“Would more team outings be good reminders?” Robin asked mischievously. “Because there’s this petting zoo that I’ve had my eye on for a while.”

Danny smiled as the team began to argue the pros and cons of a petting zoo. He felt something inside of him settle for the first time in nearly a year. For the first time, he felt at home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Batman raised an eyebrow as a teenage girl described Danny as an angel. Robin would get a kick out of that. He glanced over at the many message boards he had open. The vast majority of the commentary around Danny’s appearance was positive. Good. He’d have to have Danny officially announced as a hero working in tandem with the Justice League soon, but that could wait.

Minimizing the screens, he turned to a different news story, this one much more troubling. 

Reading it over one more time, he closed the screen. It wouldn’t do for Robin to see it. As unsettling as the news was, there was no need to panic just yet. 

Batman frowned. There was only one reason that Lex Luthor would want all of the GIW’s technology. The Light had a history of cloning people, and the GIW had been well on their way to creating a stable clone of Danny when he had escaped. If the Light could successfully create a clone of Danny, it could tip the balance of power between the two groups. 

Even though Danny didn’t seem to realize it, the halfa was incredibly powerful. Batman had no doubts that the boy could take down Superman if he wanted to. It was not surprising that the Light would want such a powerhouse under their control.

Batman considered his options. He didn’t think Danny needed to know about the potential threat. The kid was paranoid enough as it was, telling him would only cause him undue stress. The team was already incredibly protective of Danny, so telling them wouldn’t change much. His best bet would be to somehow get the technology away from Luthor. Of course, he would have to act fast. After a certain amount of time, Luthor’s people would be able to recreate the technology. Once they hit that point, there wouldn’t be much that anyone could do.

Decision made, Batman stood up. He needed to do some surveillance of Luthor’s main headquarter if he was going to successfully infiltrate it. As he left the Batcave, he could only hope that he was doing the right thing in keeping the information from the team. 


	8. Chapter 8

Danny let out a deep breath, yanking his hood away from his face. He wasn’t sure how he felt about the new cloak, but if it kept his face hidden, he was willing to put up with it. 

Today he had been officially introduced to the world as Shade, a ghost hero working with the Justice League. Danny had been two breaths away from a panic attack the whole time. It was bad enough that he had to go out and face all those people, but openly admitting that he was a ghost? Danny wasn’t sure he would ever be fully comfortable with that. 

Robin had explained the reasoning a million times. It showed the world that ghosts could be good, gave reasoning behind why the Justice League would support ghosts, it would be worse if people found out later, blah blah blah. Danny didn’t care. As far as he was concerned, people hated ghosts. And they had a tendency to hurt the things they hated.

“Nicely done!” Robin said cheerfully as Danny walked back into the Cave.

Danny grimaced. “I just stood there. I didn’t even say anything.”

“Better than tripping and falling flat on your face, which is what Wally did.” Robin said with a mischievous grin.

“Dude!” Wally yelled, shoving his shorter friend. “Not cool man.”

“You looked really nice.” Megan said, fingering the cloak. “This looks good on you.”

Danny shrugged, pulling the cloak off. He looked at it distastefully. 

“How are you supposed to fight in something like this?” He asked, glaring at the offending article of clothing. Robin laughed.

“You get used to it.” he said, gesturing to his own cape. “And it’s a small price to pay for anonymity. You’d be surprised how much something like a cape can change your body shape.”

Danny hated to admit it, but Robin was right. The last thing he wanted was for someone to recognize him. Officially, Danny Fenton was dead, which was slightly ironic when he thought about it. But he was more worried about someone recognizing Phantom. Now that images of Shade were starting to spread, the odds of someone connecting him with Phantom were higher. He really didn’t want that to happen. Bad memories aside, Phantom didn’t have the best reputation. He was pretty sure that Batman knew about his past, and that was fine, but he would like for the information to stop there. No need for anyone else to go snooping around in his past.

So he would wear the stupid cloak. It covered both his hair and a significant portion of his face, which would do wonders for keeping his identities, both past and present, safe. 

Danny looked at the rest of the team, taking notice of the fact that they were all suited up. 

“What’s going on? Is there a mission?”

“Yes.”

Danny yelped, spinning around to see Batman standing behind him.

“Ah… hi?” the halfa stuttered, turning bright red. Batman stared at him expressionlessly. Danny turned invisible, fleeing to the relative safety of the line of young heroes. He let his invisibility drop once he was safely hidden behind Superboy, peering around the young kryptonian nervously.

Batman continued the briefing as if nothing had happened.

“We’ve finally found Scarecrow.” Batman said, turning to the holographic screen. The whole team perked up at that, looking at Batman with interest. Danny’s breath hitched, and he resisted the urge to get closer to Superboy. He was not looking forward to seeing the mad psychiatrist again. 

Danny fought down a hysterical giggle as he remembered Spectra. What was it about psychiatrists that made them want to torture him?

Jazz’s face flashed in his mind, and any desire to laugh died. He forced himself to step away from Superboy, focusing on the briefing.

“This is purely a recon mission.” Batman was saying. “You are not to engage under any circumstances. Keep your distance. Scarecrow is dangerous, and he will not hesitate to use his fear gas on you. For this reason, each of you will be wearing a mask for this mission. We can not risk any of you getting infected, especially with Scarecrow’s new strain of gas.”

Batman looked at each teen carefully. “I am only giving you this mission because I know how you all feel about unfinished business. I know that if we tried to take Scarecrow done without you, you would get mad. And probably go rogue and try to take him down yourselves anyway.”

Danny blinked. They wouldn’t do that. Would they? He glanced at the rest of the team, only to see them shifting guiltily. Oh. So maybe they would.

“So I’ve decided to make this a sanctioned mission, so we can help you if things go wrong. But.”

Batman fixed every single one of them with a fierce glare.

“If you betray my trust by going off mission, there will. Be. Consequences.”

Danny gulped, suddenly very nervous. Right. Stay on track. That was fine with Danny. He didn’t really want to get close to Scarecrow again. Once was enough for him.

Batman left after the briefing was finished, and the team headed toward the bioship. Danny was about to follow when Robin cleared his throat meaningfully. 

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” the Boy Wonder asked, a glint in his eyes. 

Danny stared at him blankly. Forgetting? Forgetting what? 

Robin laughed.

“The cloak Danny.” he said with a grin, gesturing to where Danny had left the item on the floor.

Danny scowled, but he picked it up and put it on. He had to get used to the thing eventually, might as well start now. 

Cloak affixed, Danny followed the rest of the team onto the bioship. He paused on the threshold, suddenly overwhelmed by a terrible feeling. He wasn’t sure why, but he suddenly wanted to run away, and take the rest of the team with him.

“You coming?” Artemis asked, and Danny shook his head, the feeling gone.

“Yeah, sure.” he said, climbing into the ship. He chided himself for the temporary fear. There was nothing wrong. It was just his paranoia kicking in. Everything would be fine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Danny poked the mask, discontent. Of course his first mission with the cloak would also be the one with  _ another  _ thing on his face, obstructing his vision. It was ridiculous. But he would put up with it because the last thing he wanted was to get another face full of fear gas. Once was enough for a lifetime.

Danny felt a flash of admiration for Robin. The kid had been infected with fear gas multiple times, and knowing what he did about Robin’s past, it must have been terrible. And yet the Boy Wonder kept on fighting, not even hesitating when he had to face Scarecrow again. It was almost inspirational. 

_ “K, but like, if you’re exasperated right now, does that mean that most of the time you’re asperated? Cause that sounds a lot like aster, which is awesome!” _

Alright. Inspiration officially gone. 

Danny ignored Robin’s and Artemis’s argument, floating invisibly through walls. He, along with Robin and Miss Martian, were the team’s scouts, getting a lot closer than the others. After all, KF and Superboy had a talent for turning ‘recon’ missions into ‘everything starts exploding’ missions. Which was the last thing they wanted when the stakes were this high.

_ “Any signs of Scarecrow?”  _ Aqualad asked, cutting Robin and Artemis off.

_ “I haven’t seen anything.”  _ Miss Martian said.

_ “Me neither.”  _ Robin admitted.  _ “The place looks completely abandoned. Not a single electronic device is active.” _

Danny was about to say that he also hadn’t spotted anything when he shivered. He stopped dead, staring at the plume of cold air that appeared in front of him. No way. It wasn’t possible. He hadn’t felt that since… 

_ “Shade? Have you found something?” _

Danny startled at Aqualad’s voice.  _ “Not sure. Give me a minute.” _

Danny crept forward, following his ghost sense. Because that’s what it was. There was no denying it, no matter how unlikely it seemed. Danny hadn’t met a single ghost since he escaped the lab, and he had been fine with that. Sure, he missed some of his friends, but he didn’t want them in the human world. It was too dangerous. Times were changing, but ghosts still didn’t have any real rights. If there was a ghost in the building, they could be in danger.

Danny wasn’t an idiot. He knew that this could be a trap, or that he could be headed toward a distinctly unfriendly entity, but he didn’t let that stop him. If the ghost was violent, he would be fine. If there was one thing he was good at, it was ghost hunting. He considered calling the team, but decided against it. They weren’t equipped to fight ghosts, except for maybe Robin. They would just get in the way. He could handle it.

Besides, the odds of it being a trap specifically for him were tiny. A person would need ghost technology to send out a signal like that, and the only ones with technology like that were the GIW. With them out of the picture, there really wasn’t anyone else with tech advanced enough to recreate ghost energy so accurately. 

Reassured, Danny moved forward. He could tell that the ghost was close. He cautiously poked his head through a wall, entering an empty room. Danny slipped into the room silently, looking around. In the center of the room, there was a dusty table. There was something on the table, covered by a cloth. The hidden object was the thing that was setting off his ghost sense.

Danny stared at the object, decidedly uneasy. Why would Scarecrow have a device that gave off ghost energy? It didn’t make sense. Danny’s foreboding from before came back ten fold. This wasn’t right. The team needed to get out, now.

_ “Guys? Something's wrong. I think someone knew we were coming.”  _ Danny said. There was no response. __

_ “Guys?”  _ Danny turned around, frowning. All he heard was silence. 

Danny felt cold. There was no reason for the team not to be responding. Something must have happened. 

Danny was about to go looking for his teammates when he heard something. The object on the table was making a strange noise. He couldn’t tell what it was, but it grated on him, setting his nerves on edge.

Danny hesitated. He was torn between searching for his missing teammates and investigating the strange object. On the one hand, the team could be in a lot of trouble, but on the other, that object could be dangerous. He couldn’t just leave it there without at least knowing what it was.

Danny very carefully approached the thing, making sure that he was invisible and intangible. The closer he got to the table, the louder the noise got. Danny winced as the sound pierced his head. He was starting to get a headache.

Pushing the pain aside, Danny reached the table. He put out a shaky hand, grabbing the cloth covering the strange object. Hesitating one final time, he yanked it aside.

A flash of light blinded him. Danny cried out, throwing up his hands. He blinked rapidly, trying to clear his vision. He was startled to realize that there was a glowing green shield surrounding him. One that was distinctly similar to his own.

_ No…  _ he thought desperately. He attacked the shield, throwing ecto blasts and ice beams at it, but they had no effect. Danny abandoned those, pounding on the shield with his fists. He was so desperate to get out that he attempted his Ghostly Wail. The Wail had only just started when pain shot through his chest. He choked, falling to his knees.

Danny took shuddering breaths, trying to get himself back under control. He had been unable to do his Ghostly Wail since he escaped the lab. Every attempt led inevitably to pain. It scared him, made him think that there was something permanently broken inside him. He had hoped that as he healed, the Wail would come back, but so far it hadn’t.

Danny grit his teeth. So his Ghostly Wail was off the table. That didn’t mean that he had to give up. With renewed determination, he got to his feet. Taking a deep breath, he fired a powerful ectobeam into the shield. Keeping it steady, he slowly mixed his ice powers into the beam, creating a solid blue-green beam of light. Danny held the blast as long as he could, shaking as he struggled to keep the power focused. It was worth it as the shield began to crack. A few seconds later, the shield shattered.

Danny collapsed back to the floor. His vision went gray for a second. He panted, pushing back against the darkness. He couldn’t afford to pass out. Something was definitely wrong. That had been a ghost shield, something that no human should have been able to make. If they were dealing with people who had access to ghost technology, then the team would need his help.

Sudden clapping caused Danny’s head to jerk up. He peered into the darkness, trying to find the source of the noise. Slowly, Lex Luthor emerged from the shadows.

“Well done.” the billionaire said. “I didn’t know if you had it in you. I was assured that you would be unable to break out of the containment field, but I had my doubts. Thank you for proving me right.”

Luthor approached Danny, kneeling next to him on the ground. He ran a hand down the exhausted halfa’s face, pulling his mask off.

“You really are amazingly powerful, aren’t you?” he asked softly, awe tinging his tone.

Danny yanked his head away from Luthor’s hand. He struggled to get to his feet, but he suddenly felt incredibly weak. He collapsed back to the ground with a soft moan. Luthor watched him with amusement.

“I wouldn’t bother if I were you.” Luthor said, reaching down to stroke Danny’s hair. “After you broke the shield, that device started to expel particles of ectoranium. You’re breathing it in right now.”

Luthor smirked. “It always pays to be prepared, after all. I didn’t want you escaping if you managed to destroy the shield. The mask was unexpected, though it really it shouldn’t have been considering who you were here to fight. Lucky that you were tired enough that I was able to remove it. You may have gotten away otherwise.”

Danny groaned. He recognized this feeling. It was a popular method of the GIW’s to keep him under control.

“How?” he managed to gasp out. Breathing was getting increasingly difficult. The harder it got to breath, the deeper the breaths he took, and the more ectoranium entered his system, perpetuating the cycle. He would suffocate soon if he didn’t get out of this room.

“Don’t worry about that.” Luthor said, standing back up. He gestured with his hand, and Mercy came out of the shadows. She grabbed Danny, yanking him to his feet.

Danny shuddered at the sudden change in position. He felt slightly nauseous after expending so much power, and the fast movement was not helping. He tilted alarmingly, and it was only due to Mercy’s hold on him that he didn’t fall over. He weakly raised his head, staring at Luthor.

“Won’t… get away...” He mumbled, struggling weakly to get out of Mercy’s grip.

“What’s that? I won’t get away with this?” Luthor asked, a condescending smile on his face. “I suppose you are referring to the fact that your team is here, yes? Not to worry, we’ve already collected them. They were surprisingly easy to take down when they were not expecting us. Especially considering we took the martian first. No communication, and well. You were all sitting ducks.”

The darkness was encroaching on Danny’s vision again. No matter how hard he tried to breath, oxygen just wasn’t making its way into his lungs. He was starting to panic. The team was compromised. They needed help. He had to help them. But he couldn’t breath. He needed- he needed to breath, he needed help. No, he needed to help them. He… he….

Danny took a deep breath, only to double over in a coughing fit. His mind was getting increasingly fuzzing. He couldn’t think straight. All knew was that he needed to breathe.

Danny put a shaking hand over his mouth, trying to stifle the coughing. When he pulled his hand away, he was startled and scared to realize that he was coughing up blood. Another bout of coughing caused blood to spray across the floor.

“That would be our cue.” Luthor said, eyeing the blood spatters. “It would be a shame for you to die right when we finally acquired you. Mercy, if you would?”

Danny twitched as something pricked his arm. His vision started to swim, the darkness from before coming in faster. He felt his transformation happen, turning him human. He went completely limp, collapsing into Mercy’s arms. 

“Don’t worry.” Luthor’s voice was distant. “We’ll treat you much better than those fools at the GIW did. No need to destroy a perfectly good weapon.”

_ I’m not a weapon.  _ Danny wanted to say, but it was too late. The combination of drugs and lack of oxygen took their toll. Despite Danny’s best efforts, everything went black.


	9. Chapter 9

Danny woke slowly. He hurt everywhere. He felt like someone had filled his lungs with burning needles that stabbed into him with every breath he took. He breathed shallowly, not wanting to set off a coughing fit. He just knew that would hurt a frickin ton.

“Shade? Are you okay?”

Danny groaned mentally. Now someone was talking to him. Why couldn’t they just let him die in peace? 

“Shade, I know you’re awake. Open your eyes!”

Groaning out loud this time, Danny obliged, cracking his eyes open. After a few seconds, his vision cleared enough for him to make out Robin’s face.

“There he is!” Robin said with a grin, leaning back on his heels. “Thanks for joining the land of the living. Took your sweet time about it.”

“I never join the land of the living, I’m a ghost.” Danny grunted, pushing himself into a more upright position. Unfortunately, talking set off the coughing fit he had been wanting to avoid. And yes, it hurt just as much as he thought it would. Lovely.

Danny looked around, trying to figure out where they were. The whole team was there, which was a blessing. It would be easier to escape if they were all together. They were in a cell which seemed normal enough. He couldn’t help but wonder why Superboy hadn’t just ripped the door off its hinges. That was when he noticed the collars. Each team member had one, and Danny could only assume that they blocked meta human and alien powers. 

Danny suddenly realized that he had his own collar. He panicked, memories of the lab pressing in on his mind. He yanked at the collar, trying to phase it off, but it didn’t work. He yanked harder, but all the movement did was set off another coughing fit, this one much worse than the last. He doubled over as he hacked. It felt like his body was trying to cough his own lungs up.

“Are you okay?” Superboy asked, supporting Danny carefully. Danny let his head flop against the clone’s shoulder, trying to catch his breath.

“I got a lungful of ectoranium particles, so not really no.” Danny wheezed, barely able to get enough air in his lungs to speak.

Robin’s face darkened. He exchanged a look with Aqualad before placing a hand on Danny’s forehead.

“Normal.” He said quietly. “For a human anyway. Which means you’re running a fever. Not good.”

“He’ll be fine. We extracted the ectoranium, so he should heal nicely.”

The whole team whipped around to see Lex Luthor and Klarion, along with a couple of guards, standing in front of them. Kid Flash growled, sending death glares at Klarion. The chaos demon didn’t seem to care.

“Luthor, you run a great risk in detaining us.” Aqualad said seriously. “The League will come after us.”

“Oh I’m sure.” Luthor said carelessly. “But what is war if not a collection of calculated risks? And this one has such a large potential reward.”

Luthor pressed a button on his watch and every collar in the room lit up with electricity. The teen heros cried out before collapsing to the ground, twitching. 

“Apologies.” Luthor said with a smirk. “But I felt a demonstration was in order. If you should attempt to escape, well. There will be consequences.”

That said, Luthor gestured to the guards. The men stepped forward and opened the door to the cell. The team glared at them but made no move to escape. It would be a pointless waste of strength. They would be better off waiting for a more opportune moment. 

Luthor strode into the cell, followed by Klarion and the two guards. The guards approached Danny, grabbing him and pulling him to his feet. The rest of the team tensed, but subsided when Luthor tapped his watch.

“Look at you.” Luthor said softly, turning his attention fully to Danny. “The perfect weapon. All we need to do is figure out how to use you.”

“It’ll never happen.” Danny spat, sounding defiant despite the fact that he was still struggling for air. “No matter what you do to me, I’ll never help you.”

“Of course you won’t.” Luthor said with an amused grin. “I would never dream of trying to turn your loyalties. It is far too difficult. Much easier to just clone you.” 

“You say that now, but you wouldn’t be the first to try. I’m not easy to clone.” Danny said darkly. This whole situation reminded him way too much of the lab.

“Oh yes. The GIW. They attempted to clone you, didn’t they? It didn’t quite work out for them, did it?” Luthor shook his head. “Honestly, the way they treated you was just shameful. They would have destroyed you prematurely.”

Luthor took a step closer to Danny, looking him over. “I’ve wanted you here for a long time. Did you know that I was in the process of having you transferred to Cadmus when you escaped? The timing was just terrible. I thought I would never have another opportunity to study you.”

Luthor grinned, patting Danny on the shoulder. “But here you are! My perfect weapon.”

“I’m not a weapon!” Danny gasped, struggling to yell but not quite having the breath for it. “And I’m not going to be your little lab rat. I’m done with that!”

“Don’t be so dramatic Daniel.” Luthor scolded. “I’m not like the GIW, those short sighted fools. I have no idea what they thought they were accomplishing with their little experiments. I mean, they actually destroyed the one clone of you that was stable. It was like they were actively trying to sabotage themselves.”

Danny shuddered, memories overwhelming him. He blinked rapidly, fighting back tears.

Luthor didn’t seem to notice Danny’s distress, continuing his little monologue.

“Very short sighted. I do wish I could have preserved your clone. It would have made this much easier.”

Luthor paused, a sly grin forming on his face.

“Of course, she’s not entirely gone. Is she Daniel?”

Danny froze. No. He couldn’t know. No one did.

“Klarion, if you would?” Luthor said, stepping aside. The Witch Boy cackled, walking up to Danny.

“What are you hiding?” Klarion asked, running a hand down Danny’s face. Danny jerked, trying to get away, but the guards held him too tight.

Klarion cackled, dragging his hand down til it rested in the center of Danny’s chest. Then, without warning, he shoved, burying his hand in Danny’s chest. 

Danny screamed, his back arching as he tried to get away. The rest of the team started yelling as well. Robin tried to attack Klarion, but a red shield formed around the two supernatural beings, keeping everyone else out.

Klarion laughed. “Give it up boy.” he said with a manic grin. “You can’t keep it from me forever.”

Slowly, Klarion pulled his hand out of Danny’s chest. Clenched in his fist was a glowing ball about the size of a baseball. It was slow going, with the glowing ball clearly reluctant to leave Danny, but finally Klarion managed to yank it free.

Danny went limp, taking shuddering breaths. Klarion spun around, offering the ball to Luthor.

“Here you go!” He said cheerfully, as if he hadn’t just painfully ripped the thing out of a child. Luthor smiled, pulling a strange container out of his pocket. He pressed a button on the container and the glowing ball was sucked into it.

“Thank you.” Luthor said, tucking the container back into his pocket. “That will be all for now.”

The guards let go of Danny and he dropped to the ground, unable to support himself. The whole group walked out of the cell, closing the door behind them.

“No…” Danny said faintly, looking up.

“No.” He said louder, scrambling to his feet. “NO! Bring her back!”

He ran to the front of the cell, reaching out as if he could grab hold of Luthor.

“Bring her back!” He screamed. “NO! DANI!”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Danny was curled up in a ball in the corner of the cell. He had screamed and cried for hours after Luthor had taken Dani away. Nothing the team did helped at all. Danny seemed borderline hysterical.

He finally managed to calm down, tears fading into hiccups. Robin approached cautiously.

“Shade? What happened?” He asked cautiously. “What was that thing that they took?”

Danny shuddered, looking up at Robin. He took a deep breath.

“It’s a long story.” He said softly.

“We’ve got time.” Robin said with a small smile.

Danny nodded, uncurling a bit. The rest of the team gathered around him, settling down.

Danny leaned against the wall, not meeting anyone’s eyes. 

“Robin, I told you that the GIW had caught a friend of mine. That was the only reason they were able to get a hold of me. That friend was… well my clone. The only stable clone that was ever created of me. Her name was Danielle, but she liked to be called Dani with an i. We called each other cousins, but we were a lot closer than that.”

Danny wiped his eyes. He had thought that he had cried himself out, but apparently there were a few more tears in him. 

“The GIW brought both of us to the lab. But Dani… I say she was stable but she really wasn’t. She couldn’t… handle the experiments. She destabilized rapidly.”

Danny trailed off, staring into space. They waited for a minute before Robin gently prompted him to continue. 

“She… dissolved. She dissolved right in front of me and I couldn’t do anything. I promised I would protect her, but I couldn’t do anything.”

“I’m sorry.” Superboy said softly. Danny tried to smile at him, but his face couldn’t quite make the shape. 

“But Danny…” Miss Martian said hesitantly. “What does that have to do with that ball that Klarion took?”

Danny twitched. “Uh… that’s a bit more complicated.”

“Try us.” Artemis said shortly.

Danny nodded a couple of times.

“Right. Um… well. That thing that Klarion took was a ghost core. Dani’s ghost core specifically.”

“Ghost core?” Kid Flash asked. Even now, he was intensely interested in knowing how ghosts worked. 

Danny’s mouth twitched into a smile. He knew exactly what KF was thinking.

“Yeah. Every ghost has one, even halfas like me.”

Danny placed a hand on his chest and a moment later it began to glow. The light was otherworldly, a strange blue green color lit up the entire room.

“Whoa.” Robin breathed, leaning forward unconsciously to get a closer look. 

Danny’s smile became a little more genuine.

“That was my reaction the first time I saw it too.” He said, the glow fading away.

“But what is it?” Kid Flash asked, inching closer.

“The ghost core is… everything that makes a ghost a ghost.” Danny said slowly. “It’s the first thing that forms when a new ghost is born. Everything that you see when you meet a ghost comes from the ghost core. As long as the core is undamaged, a ghost can recover from almost anything.”

Danny went silent. He seemed almost ashamed.

“I shouldn’t have done it.” He whispered. “A ghost’s core is… everything. It’s almost sacred. But I couldn’t lose her too.” 

“You… absorbed her core?” Robin asked.

Danny nodded miserably. “She went so quickly. Before I even realized what was happening, she was practically gone. There was just her core left. I just… grabbed it. I wasn’t thinking. I just wanted to… to hold her. I didn’t want her to be alone when she died. I held the core close to my chest and it just… went in. I didn’t mean to do it. But… I wasn’t sorry that I did.”

“Is she still alive?” Aqualad asked, his brow furrowed in confusion. 

Danny shrugged one shoulder. 

“I don’t know.” He confessed. “Sometimes… it feels like she’s still there. I feel things, hear things…”

Danny trailed off, looking sad. “Maybe it’s just wishful thinking.”

“Well, maybe not. If she’s still alive, maybe we could bring her back. Do you think you could heal her?” Superboy asked cautiously.

Danny shook his head helplessly. 

“Maybe? If the core was in perfect condition… but it deteriorated quite a bit before I absorbed it. Important pieces are probably gone forever. And Dani was never very stable to begin with. I just don’t know if it’s possible.”

The whole team fell silent. It seemed hopeless. 

“At least your breathing seems a bit better.” Miss Martian commented.

Danny blinked, sitting up straighter. 

“It is…” he said slowly. He looked around the room, blinking a bit. Was it just him, or did the room look brighter? He stood up, completely stable on his feet for the first time since he had woken up.

“Shade?” Robin asked, also standing up. “Are you okay?”

Danny looked at his hands, flexing his fingers. They seemed to thrum with a power he had almost forgotten. He glanced at Robin.

“Yes. As a matter of fact, I feel better than I have for a long time.”

With that said, he reached up to the collar around his neck and phased it off. He had to try a bit harder than usual, but it came off without any significant problems. 

“What?” Artemis leapt to her feet, her mouth hanging open. “How did you do that?”

“Better question, how did you know you could do that? You couldn’t before.” Robin pointed out, fingering his own collar.

Danny shrugged, staring at the collar.

“I’m not sure…”

“Well who cares?” Kid Flash yelled. “Get rid of ours. Let’s get out of here!”

Danny nodded, quickly phasing each collar off of his teammates. Soon they were all free. 

“Superboy, if you would.” Aqualad said.

Superboy grinned, grabbing the door and ripping it away from the wall. The whole team exited the cell, looking around. 

“I recognize this place.” Robin said, turning in place. “It’s one of Luthor’s properties. Batman’s been quizzing me on all of his more… secret properties in the last couple of days. Guess that makes sense now.”

He stopped spinning, pointing toward the left. “This way should lead to the exit. Come on!”

The team headed in the direction that Robin indicated, but Danny hesitated. He could sense a ghost in the other direction, and there was only one type of ghost that gave off that type of signal. 

Robin paused, noticing that Danny wasn’t moving.

“Shade?”

“I’m sorry.” Danny said quietly. “I can’t leave her.”

And Danny turned and ran in the opposite direction, further into the building.


	10. Chapter 10

Danny moved quickly, keeping himself invisible and intangible as he moved through the facility. He ignored everything in his path, honing in on his ghost sense. She was close, he could tell. He wouldn’t leave her behind. He couldn’t. He could not lose her.

Danny barreled into a white room, looking around. He struggled to keep his breathing steady. This room was reminding him of the lab.

_ Focus.  _ he growled to himself.  _ This isn’t the time to freak out.  _ He shoved the feelings down, like he always did. It never seemed to be the ‘right time’ to have the freak out he had been ignoring. Part of him knew that he was only delaying the inevitable, but he didn’t really care. He honestly couldn’t afford to fall apart right now. He needed to get Dani and get out. 

Danny approached the center of the room cautiously. He hadn’t forgotten how he was captured in the first place. Luthor could apparently replicate the signals a ghost gave off. But Danny had a hard time believing that his scientists would be able to exactly reproduce the signal a halfa gave off. His kind were notoriously difficult to replicate. 

As he searched the room, he spotted the device that Luthor had sucked Dani’s core into. He rushed forward, examining the device. It looked incredibly similar to a Fenton Thermos. Danny had always suspected that the GIW had stolen his parent’s research after they’d… after. It looked like he finally had his proof.

There didn’t seem to be any traps connected to the device, but Danny was still wary. He really didn’t want to breathe anymore ectoranium in. Once was enough. If only it had been once. To be honest, he had lost track of how many time the GIW had poisoned him with the stuff. It hadn’t been his biggest concern at the time. 

_ Stop thinking about it.  _ Danny shook his head to rid his mind of screaming and blood. He reached out carefully, touching the device. When nothing happened, Danny picked it up gingerly, ready to flee at the slightest sign that something was wrong. 

Nothing. Danny let out a slow breath. Thank goodness. Now to get out of here. Danny grimaced, guilt suddenly hitting him. Now that he wasn’t in a panic about Dani, he realized what he had done. He had just abandoned his team in the middle of a hostile environment. What if something happened to them? He hoped that they had just left the building, but he knew that there was no way that they would leave him here. Even if he deserved it. 

Holding the device protectively, Danny turned to leave the room. He froze when the door opened. He eyes grew huge when Robin was dragged into the room by his hair. Klarion laughed at Robin’s struggles, not loosening his grip. With the door open, Danny could hear the sounds of fighting. Clearly the team hadn’t been able to escape attention for long. 

Luthor walked into the room after Klarion and Robin. He didn’t seem surprised to see Danny.

“I should have guessed.” Luthor said, shaking his head ruefully. “How did you escape? You shouldn’t have been able to to.”

Danny glared, not saying anything. Luthor shrugged.

“It doesn’t really matter. It won’t happen again. Now, hand over the device, or Klarion will snap Robin’s neck.”

Klarion grabbed Robin by the throat, holding him off the ground. The Boy Wonder kicked and struggled, but he was no match for the chaos demon.

Danny swallowed, panic clouding his mind. He couldn’t let Robin die, but he couldn’t give up Dani either. 

His grip tightened on the device. Unfortunately, that caused him to activate it. Danny looked down in shock as the device lit up. He was in his ghost form, so there was no chance at getting away. Before Danny could react, he was sucked in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Robin watched in shock as Danny disappeared. The device fell to the ground, clanging. Robin wasn’t entirely sure what had happened, but he couldn’t help but feel like it was a bad thing.

Luthor laughed. He picked up the device, looking at it fondly.

“Well, that was unexpectedly easy. I think it’s for the best to keep him in there for now, don’t you Klarion?”

Klarion laughed as well, dropping Robin. He hit the ground hard, coughing as he recovered from the near strangulation.

This was not asterious. Danny running off had been… unexpected. 

Robin had cursed when Danny ran off. The rest of the team paused, noticing that they were short two members.

“Robin?” Aqualad asked. 

  
  
“Shade ran off. He said he couldn’t leave Dani behind.”

Aqualad frowned. He peered down the hallway, hesitating.

“Miss Martian, can you find him?”

The Martian’s eyes glowed as she searched for the wayward halfa. 

“Got him.” She said, frowning. “But he isn’t responding to me. His mind is… a mess. He's panicking. I don’t think he's thinking clearly.”

Aqualad nodded, thinking. “Lead us to him. We can’t leave him here, especially if he is emotionally unstable.”

Miss Martian nodded, heading down the hallway. She hesitated at a split.

“What’s wrong?” Superboy asked.

“Sorry.” She said, eyes still glowing. “It’s just, his trajectory is odd. We can’t follow him exactly.”

“He’s going through the walls.” Robin said, slapping his forehead. “Of course. We’ll need to hurry if we want to have any chance of catching up.”

“Just do your best.” Aqualad told Miss Martian. She nodded nervously before heading off to the left. The rest of the team followed quietly. 

They had hoped to find Danny and get out without any problems, but of course it didn’t work like that. They emerged into a large warehouse type space filled with guards. In hindsight, they should have been more careful, but in their defense it had been a difficult day. 

Robin barely remembered the fight. It was hard to concentrate while he was worried about Danny, but he could handle it. At least he could until Klarion entered the battle. He had been completely blindsided by the demon. Next thing he knew, he was being dragged away from his team by the hair. 

Robin looked up, rubbing his throat. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t aggravated. Once again he was used as the leverage, just because he was human. And the youngest. It was freaking annoying. People should really stop underestimating him.

Case in point. Both Klarion and Luthor were ignoring him, leaving him completely unrestrained. Not that he was about to attack Klarion. He wasn’t an idiot. But there was something he could do.

He got to his feet silently, careful not to draw the attention of the two maniacs. All he needed was a second…

Luthor set the device back on its stand, turning to where Robin had been dropped. “Now, about you-”

Luthor stopped, eyes widening as he realized Robin was gone. 

“Where is he?” the billionaire yelled, turning on Klarion. The demon shrugged, unbothered.

“Why do you care? It’s just a human kid.”

“Robin isn’t ‘just’ anything!” Luthor yelled. “Find him!”

Klarion rolled his eyes, but he left the room, Luthor storming out after him.

Robin dropped from the ceiling, snickering quietly. They never looked up.

He grabbed the device, looking it over. He frowned, spinning it around. From what Luthor had said, he could only assume that Danny was inside the thing. Robin wasn’t quite sure how that was possible, but whatever. Ghosts had their own rules. This wasn’t the weirdest thing he had ever seen Danny do.

There were two buttons on the device. Luthor had pushed one of them to pull in Dani’s core, and Robin could only assume that was also what sucked in Danny. So… the other one would release him, right?

Robin shrugged mentally. He didn’t really have the time to think about it. The team needed help.

Hoping for the best, Robin pushed the button.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Danny blinked. This was… weird. Danny knew what it was like to be crammed into a thermos, and it was not this. He guessed that the technology could be a little different, but not enough to change the experience this much.

It was like he was standing in a fog. Everywhere he looked there was just more gray. He was starting to get scared. 

“Danny!”

_ What? No. It wasn’t possible.  _

“Dani?” he asked, turning around just in time for a small figure to crash into him.

Danny stared at the girl hugging him. It was her. She was finally here.

“DANI!” He yelled, grabbing her tight, burying his head in her hair.

Danny wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that. It could have been a second, or it could have been a thousand years.

Finally Dani pulled back, looking up at her ‘cousin’.

“I’ve missed you.” She said with a huge grin.

“Me too.” Danny said, his own smile a little more watery.

“Dani, I don’t understand. How are you here?”

Her smile faded a little. “I’m not. Not really. We’re both in the thermos and we kinda got… mixed up. My core is so used to being part of you that we just merged together.”

Danny frowned. “Wait. But we could still separate, right? I mean, it’s like it was before.”

Dani’s smile completely faded. “No. There’s no going back this time.”

Danny blinked a couple times before shaking his head. “I don’t care. We can just… share a body or whatever. It’s kind of weird, but we can make it work. It’ll be fine.”

Dani frowned. “No it won’t. Quit being so stubborn. You can’t support both of us. You know that. You’ve just been ignoring it.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Danny muttered, stepping away from his clone.

Dani rolled her eyes. “Fine, be that way. Make me spell it out. You have to let me go. I’ll destroy you.”

Danny shook his head, refusing to acknowledge Dani’s words.

“Don’t shake your head at me. You  _ know _ what I’m talking about. The weakness you feel all the time, that’s me. I’m hurting you Danny. And that was with you just barely keeping me alive. Now that we’re all mashed together, you can’t keep it up. It will  _ kill  _ you Danny!”

“Then I die!” Danny yelled, spinning to look at Dani. She jerked back at the sound, and Danny’s face crumpled. He collapsed to his knees, tears streaming down his face. 

“I’m sorry.” He whispered, bringing a hand up to cover his mouth. “I just… I can’t lose you Dani. You’re all I have.”

Dani’s face softened. She knelt next to her cousin, wrapping her arms around him.

“That’s not true anymore.” She said quietly. “Back in the lab, it was. I was happy about what you did Danny. I could help you, keep your spirits up. You needed me back then.”

Dani pulled back, forcing the older halfa to look at her. She smiled.

“But you have a new family now. One that needs you.”

“I promised to protect you.” Danny sobbed. 

“You did. You showed me what love really was. I was so happy with you Danny. But I need to go now. Please, let me go.”

Danny swallowed, looking into eyes that were so similar to his own.

“I’ll never forget you.” He said with a trembling smile, holding Dani’s hands in his own.

“I’d think not.” Dani said with a smirk, though she was also blinking back tears. “You’d better name one of your kids after me, or I’ll haunt you for the rest of your sorry life.”

Danny let out a strangled laugh, hugging Dani close one last time. He took a deep breath, before finally letting go.

Dani sighed, eyes fluttering.

“Thank you.” She whispered, before fading away. Soon, Danny was alone.

Danny made a strangled sound, curling in on himself. Deep inside, he felt something snap. All the grief and fear he had been suppressing for months finally broke free. Danny squeezed his eyes shut and  _ screamed.  _

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Danny opened his eyes to see Robin crouched in front of him.

“Shade?” Robin asked.

“Where is he?” Danny whispered.

“What?”

“Where’s Luthor?” Danny roared, jumping to his feet. Power surged through him. Now that Dani was gone, the residual power in her core powering him, not draining him. Danny’s face twisted at the thought. That was because it wasn’t Dani’s core anymore. It was his, and every part of it was thrumming with power. He knew it wouldn’t last long. Once his body got used to the addition, it would settle down, so he needed to act fast.

Robin pointed to the door, opening his mouth, presumably to say something, but Danny ignored him. He stormed out of the room, the door blasting off its hinges without him even touching it. He ran down the hallway, lights shattering as he moved past, following the sounds of battle.

Danny smashed down another set of doors and walked into chaos. Fighting was everywhere. He took in the scene quickly. The team was being overwhelmed. Klarion was quite the opponent. 

Danny’s lip curled. At least, he was for them. The way he was feeling right now, he was pretty sure the demon didn’t stand a chance against  _ him _ .

Without a moment’s thought, Danny split in two. He had never been able to do the trick before, but now it felt laughably easy. The clone shot off, smashing through Klarion’s shield with one blow. The demon spun in surprise but was too slow to stop the clone from grabbing him by the neck and slamming him headfirst into the ground.

Danny ignored the fight, stalking through the room. Anyone who tried to attack his got blasted backward. Electricity crackled over his skin, shorting out any electronics in the area. He felt like he was overheating, the energy running through him too much.

He finally spotted Luthor and headed toward him. The man backed away, his face pale.

“What’s wrong Luthor? Bite off more than you could chew?” Danny spat, rage pouring off of him. 

Mercy stepped in front of her employer, aiming her cannon arm at him. Danny flicked a hand and she flew across the rooming, smashing into a wall. She didn’t get up.

“Isn’t this what you wanted?” Danny screamed, spreading his arms wide. “The perfect weapon? Well here I am! Congrats Luthor, you win! You’ve unlocked my ‘true potential.’ You did in eight hours what the GIW couldn’t do in eight months! I’ve finally snapped! I hope your happy!”

Luthor pressed himself against the wall. There was nowhere for him to run.

Danny continued forward, still seething.

“Do you know what it feels like to see someone hold your heart in front of you?” he asked, almost conversationally. “I do. Let me tell you, it isn’t fun. In fact, I would say that it’s agonizing!”

Danny’s ghostly wail came out a little on the last word. Windows throughout the whole room shattered.

“And that isn’t even the worst thing they ever did to me!” Danny said, a manic grin on his face. “Yet despite all that, I held it together. I refused to fall apart. Do you know how I did that?”

Luthor whimpered slightly. He looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him.

Danny shook his head. “Of course you don’t. They didn’t either. But it doesn’t matter.”

Danny fixed Luthor with a toxic glare. “You took away the one thing that was keeping me sane, Luthor. I hope you’re ready for the consequences.”

“Please.” Luthor begged, his face contorted in fear. 

Danny laughed. Once he’d started he couldn’t stop. He doubled over, hysterical laughter filling the room.

“Do you think I’m going to kill you?” Danny asked through his laughter. He shook his head, finally gaining control of himself. “No. I’m not going to kill you. That would make me like  _ him _ , and I promised that I would never do that.”

“But,” Danny growled, grabbing Luthor by the collar and slamming him against the wall. “I am not perfect. And if any of my family are ever threatened again, I may not be so nice. So I would suggest that you back off little man. Understood?”

When Luthor didn’t say anything, Danny snarled. He grabbed one of Luthor’s wrists and squeezed until it snapped. Luthor cried out.

“Understood?” Danny repeated, not loosening his grip.

“YES! Yes, please, just let go!”

Danny dropped the man. He stood and watched as Luthor scrambled away, fleeing the room.

Silence fell. Danny felt strangely empty. He turned to see the team staring at him in shock. He noticed vaguely that Klarion was gone. He wasn’t sure where he’d gone. He could probably look through the memories of his clone and find out, but he didn’t really care.

“Shade.”

Danny looked at Robin. The film of rage fell away and all that was left was soul crushing grief. 

“Robin.” Danny swallowed around sudden tears, “She’s gone.”

Robin’s face fell. “Danny…”

Danny’s body shook as he tried to contain his tears. It was no use. Soon he was wailing, pulling on his hair. He searched desperately for the cold spot that was Dani. She was always there. She had to be there, she couldn’t be gone. Why was she gone? He wanted her back. He  _ needed  _ her. 

His knees gave out, but he didn’t hit the floor. Robin caught him, lowering him to the ground. Danny latched onto the Boy Wonder.

“I promised.” he sobbed, over and over. “I promised, I promised, I promised.”

“I know.” Robin said, tears welling up in his own eyes. “I’m so sorry.”

Danny was aware of the rest of the team surrounding him, but he ignored them.

“They’re all gone.” he said, trembling. “They killed them, and they  _ hurt  _ me and they hurt her and it hurts. Why does it still hurt? I just want it to stop hurting, please.”

“It won’t.” Robin said softly. “I’m so sorry, but it won’t. It will always hurt, but that’s okay. You’ll keep going. Because you know that’s what they’d want you to do.”

Danny tightened his hold on the Boy Wonder. Somehow, that was what he needed to hear. It didn’t make the pain go away, but it changed it into something different. Something… cleaner.

“Please don’t leave.” Danny whispered.

Robin sucked in a quick breath. He pulled Danny closer.

“I won’t.” The Boy Wonder said. “I promise.”   


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah... I felt kinda bad when I saw all the comments saying they were glad Dani was ok. Sorry! I seem to be incapable of writing happy stories...


	11. Chapter 11

Robin glanced over at Danny periodically. The halfa was sitting on the curb, staring blankly at the building they had escaped from. He hadn’t moved an inch in the last half hour. 

Robin wished he could be sitting beside Danny, or better yet, get him out of this place entirely, but he was busy coordinating the local police. For some reason, they trusted him more than any of the other teen heroes, despite the fact that he was the youngest. The curse of being a Bat, he supposed. 

Still, things were finally winding down. They had cleared the building pending an investigation of exactly what went on in there. Robin’s one regret was that they couldn’t tie this to Luthor. Most people didn’t even realize that this building was connected to Luthor at all. Honestly, Batman may have been the only one who knew. Even if they proved that Luthor owned the building, the man could just claim he had no idea what was going on there. He had done it before. 

Robin waved off a couple of reporters who were trying to get his attention and walked over to Danny. He sat down next to him, not saying anything for a moment. Danny didn’t react to his presence at all.

“How are you-”

“Is everyone out?”

Robin blinked at Danny’s sudden words. He hesitated before nodding.

“Yeah, but why do you… Shade? What are you doing?”

Danny ignored Robin, getting to his feet. He walked through the crowd, grabbing a cuffed prisoner from a group of them. 

“You.” Danny said, his voice completely monotone. “The anti-ghost tech in there. Is that all of it? Are there copies anywhere else?”

The man sneered, spitting in Danny’s face. Danny didn’t move, letting the spit drip down his cheek.

“I would suggest,” Danny said slowly. “That you do not do that again.”

All the blood drained from the man’s face. Robin didn’t really blame him. Danny’s words seemed calm, but there was something about him in that moment that made Robin’s blood run cold. At times it was easy to forget what Danny was, but then he would do something like this and it all came crashing back. Robin distantly remembered Danny mentioning a ‘creep’ factor that all ghosts had. Danny usually toned his down, but apparently he was entirely capable of using it to his advantage.

“That’s, that’s it!” The man stuttered. “It’s all there. We were keeping it contained until we had a better understanding of it.”

“Thanks.” Danny said, dropping the man. He turned away, heading toward the building.

“Superboy.” He called. Superboy looked over from where he was herding civilians. He raised a questioning eyebrow.

“I would suggest,” Danny said blandly, not looking away from the building, “that you cover your ears.”

And then Danny screamed.

Every person in the vicinity clapped their hands over their ears. Quite a few fell to the ground, covering their heads with their arms. Robin staggered back a step, but he managed to keep his feet. He watched in amazement as a wall of sound smashed into the building. It was slow at first, with only pieces flying off, but the longer the attack lasted, the more effect it had. Soon the building was nothing but rubble, completely destroyed.

Danny stopped screaming. He staggered a step, and Robin could see him trembling. Clearly the attack took a lot out of him. But he recovered, turning to address that crowd that was staring at him.

“I am done.” he said, staring over their heads. “I refuse to stand by and watch my people suffer any longer. Humans clearly can’t be trusted with this technology. I will not let the cycle continue.”

Danny shook his head slightly, emotion finally filling his face again. He looked… tired. And so, so sad.

“Those things in there… they weren’t instruments of science. They were torture devices, ones that I have experienced personally. I can’t… I can’t let them fall into the wrong hands again.”

Danny’s entire body shook, and he stumbled. Robin stepped forward, worried.

“Shade! Are you okay?”

Danny stared at Robin with wide eyes.

“I- I have to go.” And he vanished.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_ Thanks a lot Danny.  _ Robin thought sarcastically.  _ Destroy a building, make a huge speech about ghost rights, and then just leave me to deal with the press. Ugh. Totally not feeling the aster. _

Robin stalked out of the zeta tube. He had sent the rest of the team ahead almost an hour earlier. The had gone looking for Danny while Robin stayed to clean up his mess. It had been a disaster. Some people seemed to think that Danny was going to wage a one man war on humanity now or something. Robin had tried to explain that Danny had undergone a severe emotional shock inside the building and that his PTSD was causing him to act in ways that he normally wouldn’t, but not everyone was convinced. Robin had finally just left, saying that they should contact the Justice League with further questions.

Robin collapsed onto the couch, groaning. No one had been able to find Danny, and Robin was worried about him. He was unstable, emotionally and physically. He really shouldn’t be alone.

Robin closed his eyes, breathing deeply. As he sat there, he suddenly realized that he could hear something. He sat up, listening carefully. He followed the sound, only to realize that it was coming from his room.

He eased the door open silently, looking around. The T.V. was on, showing the news. The newscaster was talking about Danny, speculating on what his actions meant. As Robin watched, the channel changed, showing a different news show, also discussing Danny.

“I’m sorry.”

Robin didn’t jump, glancing over at his bed. Danny was sitting there, curled up in a little ball. He had a blanket wrapped around him, leaving only his eyes showing. 

“It’s fine.” Robin said softly. “This isn’t the first time a hero has made a scene. It will blow over. Anyone who knows what you went through will say that you were justified.”

Danny shook his head. “I shouldn’t have done it. It was irresponsible and short sighted. I was only announced to the world yesterday, and I’ve already gone and made a mess. If it was just me, that would be one thing, but I’m the representative for all ghosts. What if there is backlash because of this? The law is so close to being changed. If it doesn’t because of what I did-”

“It will.” Robin said, sitting down next to Danny. “Don’t worry. We can use this to our advantage. If we get you legally diagnosed with PTSD, than we can use it as evidence to show that ghosts can feel emotions. It will be okay. The law will change. I promised you it would, and I always keep my promises.”

Danny nodded, before swaying slightly.

“Whoa!” Robin grabbed him by the shoulder, steadying him. “Seriously, are you okay? Also, what the heck man? I didn’t know you could do that! Why didn’t you mention you had a super powerful sonic attack? Canary is going to flip!”

“Can you stop yelling?” Danny said faintly. “My head hurts.”

Robin swore, slowly lowering Danny so he was lying down. “Are you about to die? Should I do something?”

“I’m fine.” Danny said with a slight smile. “The Wail just always takes a lot out of me. I usually try not to use it if I’m being completely honest. It’s a last resort kind of thing because it has a tendency to take me completely out of the fight for a couple of hours.”

“You still could have mentioned it.” Robin muttered. “BC could probably help you learn how to control it.”

  
  
“I would have, I swear.” Danny said hurriedly. “But, I haven’t been able to use it since I got out of the lab. I kinda thought it was gone until Dani-”

Danny stopped abruptly. Robin placed a hand on his shoulder.

“What happened?”

Danny looked away. For a long minute, Robin thought that Danny wouldn’t talk, but then the halfa finally spoke.

“I saw her again. She was there, but… she also wasn’t. There was no saving her. I think I always knew that, but I just couldn’t let her go. She begged me to. She said that her presence was killing me. That’s why I couldn’t do the Wail before. Supporting her was draining me of energy and my body just couldn’t take it anymore. So… so I finally did it. I let her go, and now I feel so empty. I was never sure if she was really there before, but now that she’s gone, I can feel her absence.”

Robin sighed. “I wish I could say ‘she’ll always be with you’ or something like that, but I know how little that helps. I wish there was anything I could say that would fill that hole in your chest, but I just don’t think there is.”

  
  
Danny looked away, hunching in on himself.

“Hey.” Robin said, pulling Danny’s gaze back to him. “I wasn’t done. I may not be able to take this pain away, but I can promise to stay with you. On the good days and the bad. I’ll help you move past this. You won’t be alone.”

Danny smiled uncertainly. Robin grinned back.

“Now come on. The rest of the team is out looking for you. We should call them back so they can stop worrying.”

Danny grimaced. “Oh boy. I am so getting yelled at.”

In the end, Danny did get yelled at, though not by the team. They were too relieved that he was okay to yell at him. Black Canary on the other hand, had absolutely no qualms about yelling at the wayward halfa, though she was mostly just upset that Danny hadn’t told her about his sonic attack.

When she was finally done yelling, she pulled Danny into a fierce hug.

“I’m so glad you’re alright.” She whispered, holding him tightly. Danny gently placed his arms around her. 

“I’m okay.”

Canary pulled back, smacking him on the head. 

“Don’t go pulling another disappearing act, all right? Once is enough.”

“I promise.” Danny said, holding up one hand in a mimicry of the oath one would take in court.

Canary started to speak, but she was cut off by the zeta tube announcing Batman’s arrival. Danny flinched, unsure of what the Dark Knight would say to him.

Batman walked over to the group. He looked at Danny for a long moment. 

“I should probably scold you for causing a scene,” Batman began. “But considering the fact I was going to break into the building and sabotage the equipment there myself, I think I can let it go this time.”

Danny blinked, his mouth opening and closing a few times, before he decided to just let it go and take the win. He wasn’t sure if he would survive being yelled at by  _ the  _ Batman.

“But.” Batman continued, leveling Danny with a stern glare. “Make sure you don’t do it again. And I want you to start having regular sessions with Canary. I let it go before, but this time I insist. You’re just hurting yourself by refusing.”

Danny shifted uncomfortably.

“Sorry,” he muttered. “I’ve just… had some bad experiences with counseling. But I’m willing to give it a try, if you think it will help.”

Batman nodded, seemingly satisfied with that response. He turned to the rest of the team.

“Good job on this mission. You adapted well and got everyone out alive.”

Danny couldn’t help but flinch at that. Not everyone. Robin placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing slightly. Danny shot him a grateful look. 

“Of course, Scarecrow is still at large…”

“Oh come on!” Wally yelled. “That is so not our fault! We were set up, which you should… should have… um.”

Wally trailed off as Batman glared at him. The speedster seemed to abruptly come to the realization that he had just yelled at Batman.

“I suddenly remembered that I have to do a… thing. Right now. So… I’m going to go do that.”

  
  
Wally sped off, running into the zeta tube. Other team members started to disperse as well, either heading home or to their rooms in the cave. Robin started to walk to the zeta tube before pausing.

“Seriously Danny, are you okay?”

Danny thought about the question. He saw his friends and family in his mind’s eye and felt the pain he always felt when he thought about them. He thought of Sam and Tucker, who had always supported him and his ghost fighting. He thought of Jazz who had covered for him and helped him with homework. He thought of his parents, who had instantly defended him, turning their backs on years of prejudice without hesitation. And he thought of Dani, who had stayed with him through his lowest moments. Nothing would ever replace them, not in a thousand years. 

But… Dani was right. He wasn’t alone anymore. He had a new family, one that was different, maybe a little strange, but still good. 

With that in mind, the smile he gave Robin was real.

“I’m not okay.” Danny said honestly. “But I think that I will be.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“And in other news, the law defining ghost rights has finally been changed. As of today, ghosts are considered sentient beings with all the rights granted to humans. The final push for the change came when ghost hero Shade was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder resulting from his time spent in a GIW lab. Many saw this as the final proof necessary to prove that ghosts could feel emotion.”

Danny turned off the TV. He felt almost numb. He was finally free. It was strange. It had only been a little more than a year since the law defining ghosts as non sentient had first gone into place, yet it felt like a lifetime. So much had changed since then.

“So you heard the news.”

Danny looked over at Robin, who was leaning against the door frame to his room. 

“I thought I would be more excited.” Danny said, leaning back in his chair. “But I'm not. Why?”

Robin shrugged, walking into the room. “Maybe because you feel it shouldn’t have ever happened in the first place?”

“No.” Danny said, frustrated. “I mean, yes, but that’s not it really. I guess… it doesn’t really change anything, does it? Everything still happened. My family is still dead.”

“True.” Robin said, sitting down next to Danny. “But at least it won’t happen again. And it won’t happen to anyone else. You have to learn to look at the bright side of things.”

Danny squinted at Robin. “Have you been talking to Canary?”

Robin laughed. “Of course! I’ve been talking to her for years. But if you’re asking if I’ve been talking to her about you, then no. I would never ask, and she would never tell. The whole positive thinking thing is just good advice. Or so I’m told.”

Danny huffed, but he let it go. Robin sobered quickly as he looked at Danny.

“This is a good thing Danny.”

“I know that!” Danny yelled, standing up abruptly. “It’s just… what do I do now? I’ve been pushing through, working to get justice for my people, and now? I don’t know what to do anymore!”

“You move on to the next injustice.” Robin said seriously. “Trust me, the world will never run out of evil. You have so much power Danny. You have the chance to do so much good in the world, and now nothing is holding you back.”

Danny didn’t say anything, but he stopped pacing.

“I know you’re struggling, but crime fighting is an excellent distraction.” Robin smirked a little. “I speak from experience, here. Stick with me Danny. Our families are gone, but if we can save even one other person from our fate, don’t you think it’s worth it to try?”

Danny took a deep breath before letting it go. He turned to Robin who extended a hand.

“Are you with me?” the Boy Wonder asked.

Danny hesitated one last time before grabbing Robin’s hand.

“To the end.”


	12. Epilouge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right! Here's the end. I am working on a sequel, but only in name. I've been having a hard time with it, but I have recently had a refreshing of inspiration, so hopefully I'll be able to finish it! Regardless, I hope you enjoyed this one.
> 
> Oh, this takes place after season 2 of Young Justice. It's a big jump and there to both close out this story and set up the sequel. Just imagine that Danny was with the team for all of the reach stuff.

Nightwing watched as Kaldur began to direct the team. He smiled to himself. Kaldur was what this team really needed. He would lead them better than Nightwing ever had.

"Business as usual." he said softly, before turning to walk away. He was almost to the end of the hallway when a voice stopped him.

"Nightwing."

Nightwing closed his eyes. He should have seen this coming. He turned slightly, looking down the hallway. He wasn't surprised to see a certain figure leaning against the wall.

"Shade."

The halfa in question raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, I'm Shade now, am I? And here I thought we were closer than that."

Nightwing flinched. He turned more fully toward his friend. "Danny…"

Danny waved a hand. "No, don't mind me. Go on and distance yourself so you don't have to feel bad about leaving without saying goodbye. I'll be fine."

Nightwing ran a hand through his hair. "Look Danny, I-"

"You promised." Danny interrupted. "You swore you would stick with me through the good _and_ the bad. And then you go and pull a stunt like this."

"I know. I know and I am so sorry. I just… I can't stay Danny. Wally… Wally's dead."

"Wally was my friend too." Danny said quietly. "And you don't see me running away."

"It's different." Nightwing insisted weakly. "Wally was my longest friend. We started this team. Staying would only remind me of my failure."

Nightwing turned away, refusing to look at Danny. "Look, I just need to clear my head. I'm not leaving forever. I will come back, just… not right now."

"You're not the only one who is hurting Nightwing. I'm not only only one who is going to feel betrayed when they realize you are gone. What about Artemis? How do you think she is going to feel when she realizes that you've just up and disappeared?"

Nightwing shook his head. "You're not going to change my mind Danny. Anything you say is going to be something I've already thought of. I know the downsides of this, but it doesn't change anything. I have to leave."

"Why?"

Nightwing laughed bitterly.

"Is that even really a question?" he asked. "All I ever wanted was to lead this team, and look what happened when I did. I found myself making terrible decisions, all in the name of the greater good. I lied to everyone, risking some of my best friends' lives in the process. Now that it's all over, half the team is mad at me, and the other half is too grief stricken to truly realize what I've done. It's best for everyone if I leave."

"Wally's death wasn't your fault." Danny said softly. "No one thinks that."

"You don't understand." Nightwing groaned. "I don't feel like myself anymore. This job… it's twisted me into something that I never wanted to be!"

Nightwing took a deep breath, trying to regain his composure. "I need to be me again Danny. And I can't do that with the entire team looking to me for help."

Silence fell. Nightwing didn't move. He was going to leave no matter what, but he didn't want to leave on bad terms with Danny. He hoped that he could fix things with the halfa before he left. It would haunt him if he didn't.

"You really need this." Danny sounded almost surprised. Nightwing nodded, still refusing to turn and look at him.

"Alright." Danny said, seemingly to himself. "Okay then. Go. I hope you find whatever it is you are looking for out there."

"Thank you." Nightwing breathed. He started walking again. He was nearly gone when Danny called out again.

"Wait!"

Nightwing turned, unable to say no to Danny even after all these years. Danny walked up to him, stopping a foot away. The halfa tilted his head, brow furrowing slightly.

"I told you once that I was with you to the end." Danny said seriously. "I meant it then, and I still mean it now."

"What are you saying?" Nightwing asked slowly.

"I'm saying" Danny said, sounding annoyed, "that if you are leaving, then I'm coming with you."

Nightwing immediately shook his head. "No. No I can't ask that of you. The team is your family! It's the only thing that kept you going after everything that happened! Besides, they are going to need all the support they can get in the coming days. You can't leave them!"

Danny shrugged. "Sure, the team is family, but so are you. And don't you dare try to guilt me into staying, you absolute hypocrite. The team will be fine. They have each other to lean on. You're heading off on your own. You need me more than they do."

"I'll be fine." Nightwing said dismissively. "I don't need any-"

"Dick."

Nightwing stopped short, staring at Danny. The halfa never used his real name. He had known it for a couple years now, but Nightwing had never heard him say it out loud. The fact that he was doing so now…

Danny smiled, clearly knowing what Nightwing was thinking. He placed a hand on the acrobat's shoulder.

"You carried me through my lowest moments." Danny said gently. "Even when I screamed and cried and pushed everyone away, you stayed with me. I can never repay that, but let me try. Let me help you now."

Nightwing found himself blinking back tears. He was hit by the sudden revelation that he didn't want to be alone. He might need to leave the team for a while, but that didn't mean that didn't mean he had to completely isolate himself.

"Okay."

Danny's grin was blinding. "Alright! Let's go."

"Don't you need to tell someone that you're leaving?" Nightwing asked, slightly bemused by Danny's sudden mood shift.

Danny snorted. "Nah it's fine. I left a note."

"Brat." Nightwing muttered, but he was grinning. "You planned this the whole time."

"Eh." Danny shrugged. "Not really. More like I was prepared for every eventuality. I really was hoping that I would be able to convince you to stay."

Nightwing laughed, shoulder checking Danny gently. The hlafa shoved him right back before taking off running.

"Race you to the zeta tube!" he called back. "Whoever wins gets to decide where we're going!"

"Hey! No fair!" Nightwing yelled, running after him. Even as he shouted abuse, Nightwing couldn't help but smile. The future may still be uncertain, but it now it didn't look quite so dark.


End file.
